Insurance Claim Tips as Hurricane Ian Races Towards the Florida Gulf Coast

Insurance Claim Tips as Hurricane Ian Races Towards the Florida Gulf Coast

We pay good money to insure our property, while hoping never to have to file claim. When disaster strikes you expect your insurance company to have your back. In a perfect world, your insurance carrier will send out their field adjuster following your notification of a loss. The adjuster will thoroughly inspect and properly value your damage and a check will be forthcoming in a reasonable amount of time. In our 38-years of practicing public adjusting, with storms like Hurricane Ian, we unfortunately see too many cases where this is not the case.


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Hurricane Laura - Time to Prepare

Hurricane Laura - Time to Prepare

As Hurricane Laura continues strengthening into potential Category 4 storm, the NHC warns of an "unsurvivable storm surge," for parts of the Louisiana and Eastern Texas coast. 

Forecasters predict surges several feet high could reach nearly to Interstate 10 in Louisiana, endangering cities like Lake Charles, and others some 35 miles inland. Only a few hours remain to protect life and property.

  • Texas residence seeking to evacuate should consider DriveTexas.org.
  • Louisiana, residence should consider 511la.org

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Take steps to protect your property from Hurricane Florence and a potential insurance claim

Take steps to protect your property from Hurricane Florence and a potential insurance claim

Will Hurricane Florence become the Hurricane Harvey flooding event of the east coast? While the weather experts debate that issue, there is no doubt one way or another that Hurricane Florence is about to unleash a lot of misery on the mid Atlantic coast. Back in September 1989, Hurricane Hugo hit Charleston South Carolina and downtown buildings had 16 plus feet of water. Myrtle Beach just north of Charleston is now a very large tourist resort community and will have major damage if Florence keeps on its current track.


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Are Hurricanes Irma and Maria the New Normal?

Are Hurricanes Irma and Maria the New Normal?

It’s been a while since I have seen Cat 5 hurricane damage.  In fact, the last time was back in 1992 when Hurricane Andrew came ashore in South Florida.  No shortage of Cats 1,2,3, and maybe a 4 in there somewhere in the past 26 years, but trust me, a Cat 5 hurricane catastrophe stands out and those memories will stay with you forever.
 

So, it all came back to me when I visited St. Maarten/St Martin, a Dutch/French island in the Leeward Islands, one of the first in the island chain to be hit by Hurricane Irma eight months ago. This was my first trip back after the storm, but some of my colleagues at Tutwiler & Associates Public Adjusters had already been on the ground shortly after the storm passed, meeting with old clients and signing up new property owners as soon as commercial flights resumed. Eight months later our efforts paid off as our clients’ property insurance claims are settled and the rebuilding planning and construction has started for them.


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Hurricane 2018 - Watch Out!

Hurricane 2018 - Watch Out!

I usually don’t talk about Hurricane season or disaster planning this early in the year. But yesterday, a daily weather blog by professional meteorologist Mr. Rocco Calaci who we have great respect for mentioned the following:

“Switching gears…yesterday by former NOAA meteorologist Mr. David Dilley gave a webinar on the upcoming 2018 hurricane season.  Though he provided substantial supporting evidence of his projections, the numbers he stated for this year’s hurricane forecast were sobering.....


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Reflections from the 2018 Windstorm Insurance Network Inc. Conference

Reflections from the 2018 Windstorm Insurance Network Inc. Conference

This year’s “WIND” conference in Orlando, Florida marks the 18-year anniversary that folks from all over the U.S. have gathered to network, learn, and in many instances, conduct settlement talks on active cases to resolve issues involving wind losses and other perils covered by property insurance. Without a doubt, this conference was very successful and well attended with a reported headcount of around a thousand professionals from various disciplines. However, I was somewhat surprised the attendance was not greater given what happened during the 2017 hurricane season. 


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Hurricane Season – Don’t let your guard down

Hurricane Season – Don’t let your guard down

This is the time of year that we all start casting an eye on the tropics as the hurricane season ramps up and the chances of severe storms increases. Tampa Bay is particularly vulnerable to severe damage because it has been such a long time since we experienced a severe hurricane. Out of code buildings will be devastated in such a storm. A recent report in the Washington Post titled Tampa Bay’s Coming Storm outlines in detail the carnage that could occur in Tampa Bay from a direct hit. And a recent report in the Tampa Bay Business Journal reinforces the ticking time bomb indicating 460,000 properties are at risk from storm surge. Unfortunately, it’s too late to take action after the storm and we’ve all seen the insurance claim mess that has occurred in other areas hit by severe storms.


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Big Money Losses and the 50% Rule. Law & Ordinance Explained

Big Money Losses and the 50% Rule.  Law & Ordinance Explained

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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Hurricane Disaster Planning 2017 - Suggestions from an insurance claim expert

Hurricane Disaster Planning 2017 - Suggestions from an insurance claim expert

“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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"On Property" Insurance Claim Tips Blog

Tips and advice about how to properly file and protect your property damage insurance claim and get a fair settlement. We invite all readers to ask questions about their claim so our public adjusters can post answers for others to benefit. Insurance claim expert guest bloggers welcome to submit posts via our contact form.

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Local Office

Tutwiler & Associates Public Adjusters, Inc.
Licensed Public Insurance Adjusters & Loss Consultants
Offices: Tampa, Orlando, Palm City, Ft. Myers, Florida; Dallas, TX; Pittsburgh, PA

Executive Office
4300 W. Cypress St.
Suite 780
Tampa, FL 33607
Phone: 813.287.8090
Toll Free: 800.321.4488

Licensed in Florida # W840088 &
Texas #1399706 plus 16 other states
and the Virgin Islands