By Wezi Tjaronda WINDHOEK Santam, a short-term insurance company expects claims associated with the floods in Mariental to hit the N$30-million mark. To assist with individual insurance claims, as well as storage facilities for the salvage goods following the floods, Santam has set up a temporary office in Mariental. With the heavy rains over the weekend that resulted in the subsequent flooding of the Hardap Dam, businesses and private individuals have had their property in terms of houses, buildings, businesses and other household items among others damaged. The 2000 floods in the area resulted in claims amounting to between N$20 and N$25 million. Santam said yesterday the insurance industry was expecting claims of over N$30 million this time around because of the severity of this year’s floods compared to the previous one. Johan van der Sandt, Chief Operating Officer of Santam said yesterday the insurance industry had no clue about what the damages would cost but considering that the floods were much worse than last time, the claims would be high. “We have also posted extra assessors in the affected areas to ensure a speedy assessment and claims settlements process, and we are doing all we can to ensure people suffer as little inconvenience as possible from this unfortunate event,” said van der Sandt. He added that it was difficult to quantify the losses until a proper assessment was carried out. Van der Sandt noted that Mariental has a lot of people with a lot of severe damage to their property, as there are cases of people whose furniture is completely damaged. But as the week progresses, the chief operating officer said, the insurance company would have a clue of the damages caused by the floods.