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United States Department of Agriculture Farm Production and Conservation Risk Management Agency 1400 Independence Avenue, SW Stop 0801 Washington, DC 20250-0801 BULLETIN NO.: MGR-17-013 TO: All Approved Insurance Providers All Risk Management Agency Field Offices All Other Interested Parties FROM: Heather Manzano Acting Administrator SUBJECT: Emergency Procedures for Crops Damaged by Hurricane Harvey /s Heather Manzano 9/1/2017 BACKGROUND: Hurricane Harvey has caused catastrophic damage in many counties in Texas and Louisiana. The Risk Management Agency (RMA), in conjunction with Approved Insurance Providers (AIPs), recognize the need for authorizing emergency loss adjustment procedures that will streamline certain loss determinations on specific crops to accelerate the adjustment of losses and issuance of indemnity payments to crop insurance policyholders in impacted areas. Many residents in impacted areas have lost their primary residences to storm damage and/or have been evacuated from their homes and the local infrastructure for normal day- to-day activities has and will continue to be disrupted for some time as recovery begins. Due to the destruction of communication lines and the limited ability to travel in the impacted areas, many policyholders are unable to communicate with their agents to report losses within the Common Crop Insurance Policy, Basic Provisions (17-BR) 72 hour requirement. Furthermore, many policyholders may be unable to timely respond to premium billing and payment for Federal reinsured policies. Section 24 of the Basic Provisions (17-BR) and the Special Provisions state that interest will accrue starting the first day of the month, following issuance of the notice of premium due by the AIP, provided that a minimum of 30 days have passed from the premium billing date. ACTION: RMA authorizes the use of these emergency procedures to apply to all Texas and Louisiana counties impacted by Hurricane Harvey. Application of these emergency procedures is limited to those situations where the catastrophic nature of the losses due to insured perils is such that not authorizing these emergency loss procedures would result in unnecessary delays in processing claims. RMA is authorizing the following emergency procedures for AIPs to utilize, on a case-by- case basis, for all crops in counties impacted by Harvey to assist impacted policyholders and increase the efficiency of making loss determinations: USDA is an Equal Opportunity Employer and Provider