Helene hit Florida's Gulf Coast last week

Interesting.
I wonder if it varies state to state?

My house isn’t in a flood zone so I don’t have it. Looked at getting it after the rebuild but it was like 9k a year. 3x of my total HO policy. Even the agent said don’t do it.

My mother in law didn’t either they somehow got the HO to cover it under the idea it was from backing up sewers. The city she lived in shut down the lift stations and caused a whole subdivision to flood 5 miles inland.

 

I think it’s more a word to the wise for anyone with an EV.
Take home point is park it outside if there is a chance of rising salt water..?

 

Yep, gonna be a fair amount of vacant properties through the damage zone for awhile I'm afraid from people that can't afford to rebuild. Due to it being flood related (no or limited insurance) the rebuilds will take much longer. Much worse cane, but two years later and Ft Myers Beach has barely scratched the surface on their rebuild.

 

Good luck with the responsive insurance industry, this will be bad. Last year DeSantis pushed through changes that were supposed to lower home owner's insurance rates. That didn't happen. In fact, this was my first hurricane with no insurance.

At the time I suggested the changes were designed to benefit insurance companies, not lower policy costs. The new law eliminated long standing statutory provisions that provided policy holders could recover attorney's fees from their insurance companies if they had to sue them. Now consumers pay their own fees.

As a criminal defense lawyer, generally the only time I deal with insurance companies is in regard to restitution related matters. From friends that deal with them on a daily basis, I'm hearing more and more insurance companies are denying more and more claims figuring the typical policy holder can't afford to litigate claims. In many instances they are correct and there is no exposure to payment of the other side's fees to keep them in check.

I predict many homeowners are going to have their hands full dealing with their coverage providers.

 

Across the river from me, a house completely burned. All that was left were the walls (presumably cinder block). The roof and interior are entirely gone and it was just smoking all day. Not sure of the cause yet. The fire department is located a couple doors down, but it’s possible they had to evacuate due to the storm.

 

How are you doing Gatorade?
Hope you can get those walls drying as soon as you can…

 

Emotionally, it’s been tough. We accidentally left a few sentimental items in closets that are destroyed, and the kids are taking the whole thing really hard. But we’ve got some friends with tools coming over today to remove walls, so that’s really nice to see. I imagine we will have most of them out today. Hopefully we will have power back and start using the AC. Another of our friends got it too, so I am hoping we move fast enough to pull a double shift and work on his walls in the evening.

 

Probably too soon, but lets not forget that many red states including Florida frequently vote against disaster recovery money when it isn't their state.

 

Doesn’t sound right… if your county is part of the flood insurance program, and your home isn’t in a flood zone you should be able to get a “preferred risk” policy which is a lot less expensive… it was around $500 a year last I looked, but has probably gone up a little since then. If your insurance agent is telling you $9000, have them explain why or get a new agent.

 

I really hate to hear it.
Hope you get back to normal as soon as you can.

 

My “preferred risk” policy is now $750. Was $250 ten years ago. I’ve been told that flood insurance is changing to be more based on proximity to a body of water than flood zone and elevation, but that doesn’t make sense to me. No matter what, I expect flood insurance and HO insurance rates to continue to escalate.

 

Here in NC you have to have it to be covered. You legally are required to carry it in a flood zone, but it is voluntary outside of one... But at your own risk. Sadly many people found out the hard way when Florence flooded areas never even considered a risk. (Badly draining newer neighborhoods for instance).

I dont carry it because even with the 1000 year flood status of Florence, water stayed 300 ft from our house...and then we are off the ground several feet on top of that. But people just down the road were not so fortunate.

 

I think I speak for all of us in saying we wish we were closer to lend a hand brother.

 

I have to say that AMICA was great to work with

 

Yeah it was 3 years ago and the agent said the federal flood insurance was a disaster and rates were all over the place. The people I bought the house from had it for like you said about $500 a year.

 

Chimney Rock is a little too commercial for me to hike but there are a lot of nearby trails I hit regularly and stopped by the town for food on the way home.

 

Ownership demographic will change. The FMB of old is gone and will now go upscale.

 

I would note that the FEMA lines change so one can begin outside the floodplain and end up in it.

 

True, but for the most part, FEMA flood insurance is based entirely on how the lines are drawn, right or wrong. You're either in or out for the purposes of flood insurance quotes. He said his agent told him he was out of the flood zone, so assuming that is true, he should be eligible for a preferred risk plan at that time. Also, you can get a hefty discount if you can show that the house was ever outside a flood zone (i.e., when it was built, or any subsequent map shows it outside the flood zone), through their grand fathering clause -- even if they changed the lines to show you are now in a flood zone. Either way, getting a quote of $9K for a house outside the flood zone sounds way off. There are times it may be worth it to buy a policy even if you are outside the flood zone. I have two homes, both in X Shaded (500 year flood zone), which means it highly unlikely to flood -- but still possible. I'm not required to have flood insurance, but back when it was $300/yr for preferred risk, I went ahead and bought it anyway.