With the widespread property damage caused by Hurricane Matthew, many property owners will be seeking out assistance and advice for their insurance claim. One of the most common questions we receive as these calls come into the office revolves around the benefits of hiring a public insurance adjuster. It still amazes us that so many policyholders have not heard of our profession or understand what public adjusters do. So while we try to educate and not blow our own horn, I’ll try to answer that question in hopes of giving readers a basic understanding of the benefits of hiring public adjusters and the role they play in the insurance claims process.
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After 10 years of a hurricane drought, Florida has experienced two named Hurricanes, Hermine and Matthew.  Our hearts go out to all the folks affected by Hurricane Matthew. Based on damage reports and our own public adjuster staff who are out helping policyholders, it looks like the worst of the damage goes from Melbourne up through Daytona Beach, St. Augustine and Jacksonville.  Anything on the coast felt the wrath from Matthew. From the media reports, 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.  To deal with these perils it behooves property owners to keep their eye on the ball or in this case the money. High percentage hurricane deductibles are being applied and many folks may be surprised that despite their wind or hurricane coverage, they may be out of pocket for the mitigation and replacement costs due to lack of flood coverage or exclusions for water - sewer back-up. 
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It’s looking increasingly probable that Hurricane Matthew will impact and cause property damage to some parts of Florida’s east coast and further up the coast into Georgia and South Carolina. This type of storm can throw off tornado activity and small pockets of heavy wind gusts. As a result, thousands of homeowners may be contacting their insurance company to file an insurance claim. Resources are likely to be stretched and frustration with claims will grow as we have seen with past storms. 

If you experience property damage from Hurricane Matthew, here are a few claim tips for filing your insurance claim that will make the process easier and possibly protect your claim from denial or other problems, especially if you have to evacuate: Click to read the tips for Hurricane Matthew insurance claims.

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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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Hurricane Hermine has caused widespread wind, water, roof and flood damage in the Tampa, St. Petersburg area and up the coast to Tallahassee. As clean-up begins, many residential and commercial policyholders will submit an insurance claim for storm damage to their property. The public adjusters at Tutwiler & Associates urge policyholders to take the proper steps to protect their property insurance claim and avoid settlement problems with the following 10 tips:

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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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As often happens in the adjusting business, you think you have seen or know most of the issues. But then a surprise comes along and you realize there is always something new in the business of property insurance adjusting.  To put it another way, you don’t know what you don’t know.  So here is what I didn’t know that I needed to know. This new revelation came this week when meeting with my client in his gulf front estate in Siesta Key, Florida.
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An excellent Tampa Bay Times article, Did the National Hurricane Center Flub Erika? aired some of the discord between the National Hurricane Center folks and others, some of whom are well-respected meteorologists.  The chief complaint seems to be that the reported track of the storm varied considerably as Erika moved up from the Caribbean. As a result, this may have eroded the public’s confidence in future NHC modeling and predictions not to mention set in motion a lot of costly emergency plans. When the Governor declares a state of emergency, things happen, costs are incurred and people’s lives are disrupted.  I suspect we may hear about the actual economic cost businesses and governments, state and local, incur when a state of emergency is declared.  If not published, I hope some enterprising reporter will dig this information out as it is news the public needs to know and should be out in the public domain. 

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