Earlier in the week, when Isabel's wind speeds rose above 150 mph at one point, North Carolina agent Jenny Evans said companies informed her agency on Monday, by fax, that there would be no binding of new business while the storm approached.

Ms. Evans, of the Cape Fear Insurance Agency Inc. in Lillington, N.C., said her firm has been busy preparing for Isabel's aftermath and dealing with customer queries about their coverage.

She said the moratorium on new business generally lasts for 48 hours after the hurricane warning or watch has been dropped.

The moratorium extended to automobile coverage, she said. The agency would be writing only liability insurance until after the storm. Any writing for physical damage, after the storm, would require inspection of the car before issuing the policy she noted.

She said the agency had experienced "non-stop calling" from people either asking questions about their policies or seeking to purchase insurance for the first time as the storm approached.

In Virginia, it was time for agents to "batten down the hatches," said Bob Bradshaw, executive vice president for the Independent Insurance Agents of Virginia Inc., based in Richmond, Va.

Companies stopped binding policies by Tuesday and agents were dealing with a flurry of questions from current customers and those trying to buy insurance at the last minute. The association was also advising agents on how to answer press inquiries with information and recommendations for the public.

For a fair number of agents, all of this is new ground, he noted, because younger agents in Virginia have not had to deal with approaching hurricanes.

Dan Crobin, director of research for the regional Professional Insurance Agents for New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and New Hampshire, said some agents might be surprised by their carrier's actions of suspension, but it is a normal business practice in the face of an impending peril.

"Memories fade a little," he noted.

He said the binding restrictions he was aware of applied to within a radius of 100 miles of coastal areas.

One thing he said agents should be reminded to tell customers is that there are provisions in their homeowners policies covering property moved off of the premises out of the way of a peril to a new location for a limited time. Other provisions could extend to the cost of supplies to temporarily repair damages, such as plywood to cover windows to prevent further damage.

Scott Stanford, chairman-elect of the Independent Insurance Agents of New Jersey and owner of Britton-Selg-Stanford in Roselle Park, N.J., said customers have expressed understanding when informed that they can't get a new policy in the face of the impending storm. The clients most affected are those who were planning to close on a house during the affected period, but had to postpone it.

"We, at the shore, are accustomed to the carrier suspensions, but for those agents inland it might be new to them,"
said Andrew Anderson, owner of Anderson Insurance Agency in Manahawkin and Haven Beach, N.J., located at the New Jersey shoreline.

He added that agents who are not aware need to review their appointment contracts on the suspension of binding authority. He noted that the contracts often stipulate that when a hurricane reaches a position along a certain latitudinal and longitudinal point, the provisions go into effect.

His agency has a real estate subsidiary, and he noted that many carriers are honoring binding of homeowners policies where a pre-determined closing date was in effect weeks prior to Isabel.

Carriers said they were watching the storm track carefully and putting out notices to agents advising them of the suspensions.

Jennifer Wislocki, a spokesperson for Hartford, Conn.-based Travelers, said the company suspended the writing of new business in the wake of Hurricane Isabel's progress. Parts of South Carolina, New York and Delaware were affected by the suspension. In addition, the entire states of Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. were all affected. In New Jersey, the company's subsidiary, First Trenton, suspended coverage.

Yesterday, Travelers said it had mobilized a Catastrophe Response Team to assist insureds in Raleigh, N.C.; Richmond, Va.; and Washington, D.C. In addition, Travelers dispatched four mobile claim offices to the area.

State Farm Insurance Co., based in Bloomington, Ill., was suspending coverage along the track where the National Weather Service placed either hurricane watch or warning, said company spokesperson Ana Compain-Romero.

Sue Honeyman, a spokesperson for Hartford, Conn.-based The Hartford Financial Services Group, said initially that the company has issued suspensions for five states--Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Virginia--pertaining to new and additional property coverage.

But as the eye of the storm moved toward North Carolina's Outer Banks this morning, she said that the list had been revised. While Florida and Georgia were removed, the company listed 13 states for which new or additional property coverage should not be bound or issued for risks located within 100 miles of the coast, including New Jersey and New York.

The carrier has placed between 50-to-100 catastrophe experts on alert and has secured operational space in North Carolina and Baltimore in advance of the storm.

"We are ready. All we need is a storm," she said, yesterday.