Almost two months into the 2017 hurricane season, most of the pundits have upgraded the likely number of tropical storms we can expect in the Atlantic basin this year. Of course, these experts can never tell us when and where the storms will impact a particular geographic area, but what we all can do is prepare as best we can based on the location of the property at risk. Just as the mantra for successful real estate investment is location, location, location the same applies in a disaster recovery plan. Know your location, the risk you are exposed to and understand the exposure you are facing.

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“Recovery from a hurricane is a difficult, long term process,” says Craig Fugate, former FEMA National Emergency Management Director. Listening to all the pundits talk and write about  2017 hurricane disaster planning, I was reminded about the former big Wall Street brokerage firm, E. F. Hutton and their tag line that ran with commercials some years ago. It went like this, “When E. F. Hutton talks, people listen.”

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After each Wind Conference I am always amazed at the attendance level, value and depth of knowledge brought by the professionals drawn to this annual event. This year was no exception. There is an old saying that 90% of success is just showing up. That old saying certainty applies to the 18^th Annual Windstorm Insurance Network Conference.

The last attendance number I heard was that over 1,065 professionals from all over the United States traveled to Orlando, Florida to learn, network, and yes, do a little partying after hours. Make no mistake about it; the folks who taught and those who attended the various workshops are the movers and shakers in the property insurance claims industry. These are folks who for the most part control the claim process and ultimately the money that will be paid out to policyholders when a covered Wind Cat wind loss occurs.

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WOW! What an impressive response to our most recent public adjuster blog , offering property owners with storm damage from Hurricane Hermine our advice on handling the claim related issues. It shattered all previous records on reader response and views. Two things come to mind.  People are looking for tips to deal with their claim process or they are just looking since it’s been so long since the last storm hit Florida and more specifically the Gulf Coast. My guess it’s a little of both, but I know there are claim issues out there from flood, wind, and the worst…massive sewer and black water backup problems. The calls are coming in and our public adjusters are staying busy, so my guess is that this will be a long sloth before there light at the end of the tunnel.
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As the saying goes in the sports fishing world when the big one is hooked, “FISH ON!” After 10 years of no hurricane landfalls, Florida experienced first a tropical storm, which was later upgraded to Cat 1 Hurricane Hermine. I feel very bad for all the folks affected in this State from Hurricane Hermine. From the media reports, this storm caused misery to a lot of Floridians along the Gulf Coast from Sarasota, Tampa Bay, all the way up the west coast to the big bend area and westward to Tallahassee. Flooding was as bad or worse than the wind in many locations but in combination, they likely did a number on property owners.  And if property damage wasn’t enough, the loss of power added misery to the mix. 
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If your Florida home was severely damaged from Hurricane Hermine to the extent that it is uninhabitable to live in, your insurance policy may provide a coverage called “Additional Living Expense” or “A.L.E.” Under the Additional Living Expense coverage, you and your family may be entitled to rent another home of the same size, like kind and quality as well as be reimbursed for any extra expenses you may incur such as food and temporary lodging.
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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?

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Non-weather related water loss insurance claims in Florida are on the rise. So says Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater who heads up the Florida Department of Financial Services. The problem is so great that his Florida Consumer Advocate, Ms. Sha’ Ron James called for a summit and invited all stakeholders to attend. 

Mr. Atwater is not the only one sounding the alarm on water damage claim issues and its companion Assignment of Benefits (AOB). Based on my following the news on this hot topic it seems most insurance carriers in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach county areas are all in agreement that the situation is getting out of control and in fact may be critical, requiring rate increases and further reductions in insurance property policy coverages for water losses.

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First I want to share some atmospheric observations and conditions that are clearly changing in the Caribbean and may play into the El Niño, La Niña narrative. On my trip last week to the Leeward Island of St Maarten I had the opportunity to visit with old clients, friends and observe changes that have occurred since my last trip in 2015. 
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The following is a short primer and history lesson for the insured property consumer on these two fool’s errands. For those of us in the property insurance adjusting business, we see the storm clouds gathering given all the recent rhetoric about allowing a policyholder’s insurance company to repair their property following a covered loss.  Given our knowledge and experience, we know the likely outcome of this latest scheme to pump up underwriting profits, but my guess is not many laymen do.  Make no mistake about it, your policy premiums will not drop if these managed repair programs being touted as a savior for you and the insurance industry is approved by the Tallahassee regulators. The irony is that managed repair and its stepchild “option to repair” will most likely be bad for both the insured and the insurer. So given what may be the inevitable, let’s examine both of these repair schemes. 

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