Upon finding that an insurance emergency has occurred, the commissioner, by order, may suspend any deadlines established by rule that apply to actions taken in the course of evaluating or settling claims and, may establish new deadlines in place of those that have been suspended. For purposes of this section, "insurance emergency" means an event, either natural or man-made, which in the opinion of the commissioner is reasonably likely to produce a volume of claims, for a particular place and time, that significantly exceeds the number of claims normally arising in that place and for that time. The commissioner shall limit the order to accommodate the anticipated increase in claims by specifying the geographic area in which claims to which the new deadlines apply arise, the time period during which the claims arise, the cause or nature of the claims, the relative priority of the claims or other characteristics of the claims that the commissioner considers appropriate.