If not here, then where? Not to be an alarmist but I assume most folks who pay attention to the weather folks as well as the local and national news likely would not have missed the most recent update from NOAA on their forecast for the balance of this year’s hurricane season. Yes, the tropical storms count just went up, as it seems a number of factors that are monitored and used to help weather experts calculate risk exposure from tropical storms are causing concerns in that the balance of this season will be more active in terms of tropical storms as well as the potential for one or more major hurricanes. All this begs the question: Will landfall occur causing damages not seen in Florida since 2005?

For those of us who live in Florida, we are constantly reminded that it has been ten years since this State was hit by a hurricane. But those of us in the insurance claim disaster business know other parts of the country have not been so lucky. Remember Super Storm Sandy? That was four years ago. In the Sunshine State, that storm was out-of-sight-out-of-mind. Not so for our firm as we quickly mobilized and had our storm office open in New York and took on the hard job of dealing with not only wind but the flood losses that followed. That mid-October storm in 2012 was a doozy. Then November and December quickly rolled around and it got cold. But we pressed on.

While 99% of our clients from Sandy are paid and happy with the settlements we were able to achieve for them, we still have a few that have matters pending in the courts due to recalcitrant insurance companies bogus positions. But an article, Four Years After Sandy the Coastal Real Estate Market is Recovering published in the Washington Post this week is a good reminder that the long tail of hurricane destruction can go on years after the initial landfall and there are still struggling communities with the after effects of Sandy’s destruction.

So while we have been lucky for the last 10 years, things could change quickly for Florida property owners if a storm were to strike. And remember, given the long recognized vulnerability of Florida with its huge coastal population, the lessons of Super Storm Sandy with maximum winds of 115 mph should not be forgotten.  As you can read in the Washington Post article, Super Storm Sandy should serve as a reminder that if our luck runs out, it may take a long time to get some sense of normalcy in the Sunshine State.

Are you prepared?  Check out our insurance claim Pre-loss Disaster Planning Services.