Catastrophe claim intake surge

How do we capture thousands of claims with photos in the days after a storm or wildfire, triage them by severity, and route each to a field or desk adjuster without the call center collapsing?

Give every policyholder in the affected area a door that does not need an agent. Callvu identifies the policyholder, prefills the policy and the property from the policy system, classifies the loss from the answers and the photos (a total loss, structural damage, roof and water, contents only, a vehicle, additional living expense only), applies the state's catastrophe rules for the event (extended deadlines, the emergency adjuster rules, the moratoriums), decides the routing by severity and location to a field adjuster, a desk adjuster or a fast-track payment, and writes each claim to the claims system with the work type, the skill and the due date, so the surge becomes a queue the claims leaders can see and staff.

In scopeComplex: multi-party handoffsCallvu moves: classify, prefill, decide, write back

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Last updated November 7, 2026.

The problem today

Four days after the storm, the hold time was two hours and nobody knew how many roofs were gone.

Today, without Callvu

A hurricane, a hailstorm or a wildfire hits. Every policyholder in the area calls at once. The call center takes first notices by hand, each one twelve minutes long, and the queue grows faster than it drains. Policyholders who could have reported from their phone wait on hold. Claims leaders cannot see how many claims are severe, where they are or which adjusters to send, because the information is in call notes.

States layer rules on catastrophe claims: emergency regulations after a declared disaster that extend proof of loss and other deadlines, allow emergency adjuster licensing, prohibit cancellation and non-renewal for a period, and require the insurer to maintain adequate claims capacity and report its claim counts to the department. The unfair claims practices periods still apply, measured from each notice.

The surge is predictable, the geography is known, and the triage is a classification on photos and answers. The intake should be the part that scales.

How it runs

From the requestto the system of record.

A catastrophe is declared or the insurer opens an event in the claims system. Policyholders report through the app, a link texted from the phone menu, an agent, a broker or an AI agent. Callvu opens each claim against the event.

Policyholders: Report the loss with photos and answers from their phones, and see their claim's status.
Claims intake: Handles the exceptions the classification cannot settle, in the Decision Desk.
Field adjusters: Receive the severe and structural claims by area with the photos already on the file.
Callvu: Prefills, classifies, applies the event rules, decides the routing and writes each claim.

Prefill from the policy
The policyholder is identified and the policy, the insured location, the coverages and limits, the deductible (including a hurricane or wind percentage deductible where the policy has one) and the mortgagee are prefilled from the policy system; the event's date and area are matched to the location, and the policyholder answers only what the loss type needs.
Classify the loss
The answers and the photos classify the severity and the type: a total loss or uninhabitable dwelling, structural or roof damage, water intrusion, contents only, a vehicle, trees and fences, additional living expense with no structural damage; the classification sets the work type, the skill, the effort and the due date under the event's rules.
Decide the routing
Routing is decided by rule: severe and structural claims to field adjusters by area in the order of severity, moderate claims to desk adjusters with a request for more photos, small clear claims to a fast-track payment up to the authority limit; the state's catastrophe rules for the event (extended deadlines, emergency adjusters, the moratorium on cancellation) are applied to every claim; an unclear classification goes to claims intake in the Decision Desk with the photos and only the allowed routings.
Write back
Each claim is written to the claims system with the event code, the classification, the routing, the acknowledgment date and the state's periods; the policyholder receives the acknowledgment, the next step and a link to add photos or documents; the claims leaders see the event's queue by severity, area and adjuster, what is due and what is stuck.

Where it ends: Every policyholder had a door that did not depend on an agent, every claim landed in the claims system classified and routed with the state's event rules applied, and the leaders could see the surge as a queue with due dates. The Decision Trace shows each classification, the rules applied and the routing; the Audit Trace shows each report, acknowledgment and write with its time.

Runtime enforcement

What is enforcedwhile the work runs.

The regulations preloaded in Callvu Studio and the bank's own policies, applied as steps that run, not lines in a binder. A step that breaks a rule does not run, so a completed run was compliant.

Regulations

State catastrophe and emergency claim rules (emergency regulations and bulletins after a declared disaster, for example Florida Statute 626.854 and 627.70131, Texas Insurance Code 542A, California Insurance Code 2051.5 and 2061): After a declared catastrophe, states extend the deadlines for proof of loss and for the insured to make repairs or replace property, allow emergency and non-resident adjusters to be licensed temporarily, impose moratoriums on cancellation and non-renewal in the affected area, require the insurer to respond to and settle claims within specific periods measured from notice, require advance payment of additional living expense in some states, and require the insurer to report claim counts and closure rates to the insurance department.
State unfair claims settlement practices acts (NAIC Model Act 900 and Model Regulation 902): The acknowledgment, investigation and decision periods apply to each catastrophe claim from its notice, and the insurer must maintain the capacity to meet them; a catastrophe is a recognized reason for a reasonable extension of the investigation period only where the insurer documents it.
Policy terms for catastrophe losses (hurricane and wind deductibles, additional living expense, mortgagee clause): The policy's percentage deductible for named storms, the additional living expense limit and period, the loss settlement basis and the mortgagee clause determine what the classification computes and what the payment and the contractor assignment need later.

Company policies

Every policyholder in the event area can report from their phone with photos; the call center is one door, never the only one.
The classification decides the routing by severity and area; people decide only what the classification cannot.
The state's catastrophe rules for the event are applied to every claim from the event record, not from an adjuster's memory.
The claims system is the system of record for each claim, and the event queue is read from it.

Controls

Event record with the area, the dates and the state's rules.
Policy and location prefill.
Severity classification from answers and photos.
Rule-based routing with authority limits for fast-track payments.
Decision Desk for unclear classifications.
Claims system write with the event queue and the state's periods.

Clocks and deadlines

Acknowledgment: Within the state's period from each notice, with the event's extension recorded where one applies.
State catastrophe and emergency claim rules deadlines: The extended proof of loss, repair and decision periods the event's emergency regulation sets, applied per claim.
Additional living expense advance: Where the state requires an advance for an uninhabitable dwelling, on the classification, within the state's period.

Documents and checks

The event record and the state's rules for it
Each claim's report, answers and photos
The classification and the routing
The acknowledgment and the policyholder's next step
The claims system record and the event queue

In the Decision Trace

The classification of each claim and the evidence it used.
The event rules applied.
Any Decision Desk routing and the person.

In the Audit Trace

Each report with time and channel.
Each acknowledgment with time against the state's period.
Each write and each routing.

The handoff

Between the front doorand the back office.

The front door

The app, a link texted from the phone menu, an agent, a broker or an AI agent; the policyholder reports with photos in minutes.

The back office

Field and desk adjusters receive classified claims by area with the photos on the file; claims leaders staff from the queue.

The Decision Desk

A claim the classification cannot settle (conflicting photos, a location outside the event area, a possible total loss without photos) goes to claims intake in the Decision Desk with the evidence and only the allowed routings.

Proof

In scope.Proof at scale, not one process at a time.

The kind of process Callvu runs in production for customers in this industry. Ask for a reference on this exact process. The results below are the industry's published proof; each claim code links to its record on agents.callvu.com.

Phoenix put more than 100 processes live in under 3 months.

Across Callvu customers

More than 1,000 processes are live across Callvu customers.

Across Callvu customers

Questions

What buyers ask next,answered plainly.

How do policyholders report during a surge?

From their phones through the app or a link texted from the phone menu, with photos, answering only what their loss type needs; the call center is one door among several.

How are claims triaged?

A classification on the answers and the photos sets the severity and the type, and routing follows by rule: field adjusters for structural damage, desk adjusters for moderate claims, fast-track payment for small clear ones.

How are the state's emergency rules applied?

From the event record: the extended deadlines, the emergency adjuster allowances and the moratoriums apply to every claim written against the event.

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