TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Sept. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite stinging, nearly horizontal rains propelled by a still-powerful Hurricane Georges, Allstate Insurance Co.'s National Catastrophe Team in Mobile, Alabama is mobilizing its forces even while hunkered down against the hurricane winds.

Nearly 300 members of Allstate's specially trained group of adjusters are in the final stages of planning to take to the streets once Georges leaves the Gulf coast behind and begins to weaken. The team is gathering its technical resources and customer lists while considering where to deploy more than a dozen of its specially-equipped Mobile Response Units (MRU) throughout the affected area along the coast.

The MRUs, dubbed "Cat-Mobiles" ("CAT" for catastrophe), are Allstate's 36-foot long catastrophe claim offices on wheels. The mobile claim office provides fast, on-the-spot assistance for Allstate customers whose homes, autos or property have suffered damage.

Owned and operated by Allstate's National Catastrophe Team, the vehicles are equipped with 18 phone lines for customers to make free calls to friends or loved ones. Catastrophe team employees provide customers with refreshments and are even equipped with toys and coloring books for children.

The vehicles are used in storm-ravaged areas to help Allstate customers at the scene of a disaster. In the past year, they have helped storm victims in Mobile, Ala.; Nashville, Tenn.; Denton, Texas and Orlando, Fla. "We do our best to be anywhere in the country, anytime our customers need us," says Doug Raucy of Allstate's National Catastrophe Team.

Allstate customers with claims can visit Allstate's mobile claim office or call the company's toll-free catastrophe claim line at 1-800-54-STORM.

Allstate Insurance Co. is the nation's largest publicly held personal lines insurance company, insuring one of every eight homes and automobiles in the country. The company provides insurance for more than 20 million customers and has approximately 15,000 agents in the U.S. and Canada. Allstate Life Insurance is one of the country's largest life insurers and among the fastest growing.