LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) – Today is the last day for Southern Fidelity homeowner insurance customers to find a new insurance provider before the company pulls out of the state of Louisiana. 

Southern Fidelity will be dropping over 42-thousand Louisiana customers from their policies. Louisiana Department of Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon says most people aren’t aware that they extended the deadline an additional sixty days to Sept. 13. “We did that through Citizens, our market of last resort, where most of these policy holders will end up having to go to get coverage to replace Southern Fidelity because a great majority of the property insurers have stopped writing new business in the coastal area of our state,” says Donelon. 

The reason for this extension is because of the overwhelming number of customers attempting to access coverage through Citizens. Commissioner Donelon mentioned numerous people who have already made their way to Citizens once the liquidation was announced. “We believe the most recent accurate number is over eighty thousand, about eighty-two thousand total policies up from thirty-five thousand when Hurricane Laura hit the year before last.” 

Commissioner Donelon has also shared some advice for people worried about the upcoming hurricane season which is predicted to be a rough one. “Number one, access the national flood insurance program. Number two, know what your main storm or hurricane deductible is. Lastly, walk through your house with your cell phone and take pictures of all your furniture, your carpeting, your appliances. It will be such a huge help in the aftermath of a catastrophic loss.”