Having recently gone through a recent storm damage claim here from June of this year, there are a few things you should know. First off, I feel for the losses you have suffered. Its a ***** seeing a storm take out something. I went through a tree falling down and demolishing my detached garage. It took about 3 weeks before the insurance could assess the damage, and another week to pay. The trouble doesn't start here tho.

It behind with the claim check wrote out to me, the wife and mortgage company. Once you give the check to them, good luck getting any part of it back. They will give you every excuse and hold up they can to keep you from your money! If you do have a legit insurance claim, and a get a check from the insurance company, don't under any reason at all give it to the mortgage company! Otherwise count on hiring a attorney or go to the local news hawk to expose them.

I hope this helps out. I can post more when I have access to my puter.
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Good advice. And take pictures, LOTS of pictures from every angle, BEFORE you do any clean-up. Take pictures of the neighbors houses as well for comparison. Insurance companies can sometimes be tough on approving claims, and if you've already moved the evidence of the cause of destruction, you might get screwed.
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Some good points to address.
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If its a joint check, which insurance requires over a certain amount, you have no choice but to get an agent of the mortgage company to sign off. This is supposed to prevent the homeowner from taking the money, but never fixing the property, by alerting the mortgage company of major damage.

When we had storm damage I called and found an authorized branch manager locally that could sign. Otherwise, they wanted me to mail it to california!! I told that that was unacceptable because a tree had fallen into our living room and it was exposed to the elements. (IN DECEMBER!)

Which bank gave you the run around? It was horrible dealing with Bank of America.
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Post more WHAT? :-)
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It was P N C. from what I have heard,, alot of them are doing this. They have a $5k threshold, where it is above that, they are supposed to give you a series of draws, like a construction loan would do. Every mortgage company works differently. Some limits are different, based on who your dealing with.

Based on my personal experience, I would run the check through without there john hancock on it, right through the atm. Once it's tagged from the bank, is a done deal.

I do understand the point you made with there signature is needed. My first phone call was to the lost claim dept. , where I was told that the process was easy and painless. Let me tell you, that was a massive lie! Every phone call made led to more hoops to jump through and a new story/ excuse each time. After going through that for 2 months, I went nuts and emailed every news station locally, as well as the AG, BBB, the attorney general, and the state banking board. Thats when the quote, "misunderstanding" was addressed. I know we have guys here that suffered a loss, and my goal is to have some feedback to fall back on before they go through this them selves.
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By the way, my claim was for $19000.
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