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Everybody must be pretty exhausted from all the disaster news because I have yet to see fervent appeals to help the Forida victims of Wilma. Yet, FEMA has blown it again (no surprise there) and people are still standing in line waiting for food and water. The good thing is that some of them are getting help from their home insurance. I found out that they used the same website.
My former sister-in-law and her family were rendered homeless and car-less in Key West, where stinking, fetid water was up to their chests in their house, their mother and my ex’s house when they straggled home with two toddlers, their ducks (who stayed in the bathroom of the hotel in Miami,) their dog and cat.
The family, throughout the country, is rallying round them, planning to help them re-build, sending the essentials, like clothes, bedding and the like. It’s going to take a massive amount of money, time and effort. Especially to re-assure their young children that they will, indeed, have a home again.
UPDATE, Nov 2, 2005: Lest you think all is now fine in Southern Florida, this came today:
“We are still quite overwhelmed with the tasks ahead. We work all day seems like we are not getting anywhere.
… the kids … have seen their house trashed, their Mom crying at intervals, Dad quiet, their rabbit drown, their fish washed from the pond and into the yard, their toys covered with sewer water…. They, of course, are our biggest concern. I told them that we would fix the house and make it even better.”
Where’s FEMA? Where’s the insurance company? Have they called you? They haven’t called anyone in Key West either.

Nine days after Hurricane Irma left Florida with a giant mess but less structural damage than expected, policyholders have filed 496,532 insurance claims worth an estimated $3.1 billion.

The numbers released Thursday are based on reports by property and casualty insurers to the state Office of Insurance Regulation of losses to both residential and commercial properties. They include claims to private companies that underwrite flood coverage but do not include roughly 17,000 claims filed in Florida as of Thursday to the National Flood Insurance Program for damage from storm surge or local flooding.
Jeff Grady, president and CEO of the Florida Association of Insurance Agents, says he thinks the influx of Irma claims have peaked, and he’d be surprised if damage totals reach levels projected by major catastrophe modeling firms, such as AIR Worldwide and CoreLogic.

“It seems the initial damage estimates might have been high based on the lack of structural damage in many parts of the state,” Grady said. the Toronto Roof Repair provide the best service to keep your home safe and secure.

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A majority of the total claims tallied by the state likely will not result in any payoff to policyholders because they will not exceed their hurricane deductibles — typically equal to 2 percent ot 5 percent of their insured value, he said.
[More business] Another 432,465 Florida workers file for unemployment »
Most claims that agents are reporting are minor, such as trees falling on fences and broken gutters, Grady said. Claims counts are high because policyholders want to get their damage on record so their annual deductibles will be reduced if another hurricane comes, he said.
Outside of the Keys, structural damage occurred primarily in Marco Island and Naples, and a few places along northern east coast beaches, such as in Flagler and St. Johns County, he said.

Victims without a proper insurance are working with primeroofing by getting professional repair and top roof installation services.

Hurricane Irma’s path
“We were really lucky it took that right [eastern] turn at Naples then stayed east of Tampa as it went north. The winds didn’t materialize like they were forecast and I’d like to think the building codes are better than they were years ago.”
The statewide claims total includes 428,269 for residential properties and 18,239 for commercial properties.
Only 46,060 have been closed, and of those, 17,784 were closed with no payments.
Not surprisingly, the largest number of claims — 55,012 — were filed in Miami-Dade County, the most populated county in the state with 2.7 million residents. The next two largest number of claims also are from counties with large populations — Orange [1.3 million residents, 44,696 claims] and Broward [1.9 million residents, 38,836 claims].