(FORTUNE Small Business) – Luckily for Evans Industries, a manufacturer of steel drums for the oil industry, founder Robert Evans, now deceased, liked to play it safe. He always insisted on carrying business-interruption insurance, which covers a company's cash flow if a disaster prevents it from operating. In the company's 68-year history, it has not had to make such a claim, says president (and Evans's son-in-law) Gary Hamilton. But hurricanes Katrina and Rita changed that.

Based in Harvey, La., just outside New Orleans, Evans takes in about $50 million in annual revenue, and its insurance costs $300,000 a year, with a deductible of 2% of damages. CFO Mike Dufrechou says the policy includes property damage and a sophisticated version of business-interruption coverage, protecting the company's balance sheet in the event of a police lockdown or utility outage. Both were triggered by the hurricanes. Local officials did not allow access to Evans's factory for more than two weeks, and the region was without power for nearly as long. Also, many of Evans's petrochemical customers are based in the gulf region. "Because those companies are down," Hamilton says, "we don't have the orders we would normally have."

As of presstime Evans was filing claims with Lexington Insurance, which wrote the policy. Hamilton declined to discuss details, but even a conservative estimate would put the company's losses in the millions. Any claim will probably be reviewed by an accountant (similar to the way adjustors inspect physical damages before a property claim is paid).

"Right now Lexington is working to get us an advance payment, which we desperately need," says Hamilton. Adds Dufrechou: "Everybody down here has a story of loss, but you've got to move on and rebuild. And Evans is moving forward as quickly as possible."