Filing insurance claims after Hurricanes Helene and Milton
Hurricanes Helene and Milton struck the state just 13 days apart. The flood and wind damage left behind by both storms comes as high insurance premiums have Floridians worried about what will be covered and how much more their bill can go up.
Florida has some of the most expensive home insurance in the nation. The price of protection has driven up the cost of living here across the state.
Almost 150,000 insurance claims have already been filed by Florida homeowners in the week since Hurricane Milton, which will be another multibillion-dollar storm. The tab for insured damage is expected to be over $2 billion.
This is in addition to the storm that hit many of the same areas just two weeks earlier. Hurricane Helene is expected to cost insurers $1.3 billion. Over 42,000 homeowners have filed insurance claims for Helene.
And this does not include most owners who have flood insurance. The storms and the damage they caused highlight the nuanced detail that can be the difference between recovering and ruin.
How do you tell the difference between damage caused by Helene and damage caused by Milton? What type of water damage is covered by what types of insurance? What about damage from tornadoes that were spawned by a hurricane? These are the kinds of questions we spoke with Florida's top insurance cop about on the program.
Guest:
- Michael Yaworsky, Florida Office of Insurance Regulation commissioner.
Voting in damaged communities after the storms
The state Office of Election Crimes and Security had been investigating signatures that were collected to get Amendment 4 on this fall’s ballot. It released its report last week saying it found "demonstrated widespread petition fraud," as well as the illegal payment of people gathering signatures.
Also, it is expected to be a busy season of voting and one with lots of how-to questions thanks in part to the back-to-back hurricanes. We posed some of those questions to Travis Hart in his role as the president of the Florida Supervisors of Elections Association.
Guest:
- Travis Hart, the president of the Florida Supervisors of Elections Association. Also the elections supervisor in Lafayette County.
PolitiFact claims check
As Election Day nears and voting begins, we will be examining some claims each week with our partner PolitiFact. If you have a claim you want us to check out, email us: radio@TheFloridaRoundup.org.
There have been several viral social media posts in recent weeks about ballots in Palm Beach County. The claims are that the county sent out some ballots with the name of the Democratic vice presidential candidate incorrectly printed as “Tom Walz.”
Guest:
- Samantha Putterman, Florida government reporter at PolitiFact.
Weekly briefing
It’s been a little over one week since Hurricane Milton came to Florida bringing tornadoes, high winds and flooding. We had a series of reports on how recovery efforts are going now.
Milton is just the latest challenge for Florida’s citrus industry. Even before the storm, Florida growers were expected to produce less fruit this year than last. Orange production is forecast to drop 16% compared to last year. Growers also now have to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.
Finally, host Tom Hudson muses about the latest batch of TV shows hitting streaming platforms about Florida and Floridians — compared to which ones are actually filmed in the state.