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As if it were yesterday, I vividly remember going to my first catastrophic fire loss with my dad at the young age of nine. It was a house fire in Sarasota involving a resident falling asleep with a lit cigarette. The amount of damage that was caused by the fire was permanently implanted in my mind. Recently, Hurricane Helene brought me back to that memory, as the storm surge and flooding caused so much devastation to my beautiful hometown of Sarasota. A hurricane whose eye was more than 100 miles off the coast of Florida brought unprecedented storm surge and flooding.

Even weeks after the fact, my mind is still blown by the amount of catastrophic damage this storm caused.

According to CoreLogic, the insured flood losses from the National Flood Insurance Program and private insurance for residential and commercial properties for Helene is estimated to be between $6 billion and $11 billion, which includes losses caused by storm surge and inland flooding. The estimated windstorm insured losses for Hurricane Helene is between $4.5 billion and $6.5 billion. From my firsthand perspective, CoreLogic’s assessment of Hurricane Helene paints the perfect picture of what it was – a flooding event. More than 90% of the claims my firm has received from Hurricane Helene were flood-related.

But just two weeks after dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, just southwest of Sarasota. Hurricane Milton had the same feel as Hurricanes Ian and Irma. Like those hurricanes, most of the windstorm losses in Manatee and Sarasota Counties have been under the deductible. However, the flooding was more intense for our area than it had been with Ian and Irma. As a result of the storm surge from Milton, in some cases, we had to file a second flood insurance claim.

A few critical items from an agent / agency standpoint that I believe benefited our insureds:

Pre- and Post-Storm Updates

• Throughout both storms, I was sending frequent updates to the insureds. Giving them important information from the National Weather Service, the county government, the language for the emergency powers of the condo association, and the phone numbers for my team. We stood ready to help once the storms passed. Post storm, my team was able to give additional information about the importance of contacting a restoration firm to help mitigate further damage to the property as well as other vendors that could assist in the clean-up process.
• See video of Fisherman’s Cove Condominiums in Siesta Key

Claims Advocacy

• Through the CBIZ Claims Advocacy Team, each one of our affected clients were assigned an in-house advocate to provide support, such as:
  • The claims advocate will report the loss to the insurance company. The association’s claims advocate will monitor the claims process through regular contact with the claims adjuster to ensure prompt and accurate handling of the claim, until

    

    the claim is closed. The advocate should work to see that the condo community is first in line for the claims adjuster to assess the damage to the property. In catastrophic events, time is of the essence. The quicker we can notify / submit a first notice of loss, the sooner an adjuster will be assigned to the file and they quicker they will be out to the property. The longer you wait to file a claim, the longer it’s going to take, as the catastrophy adjusters will start to be overwhelmed with claims. The quicker the adjuster is assigned to the file, the sooner the damage can be assessed, payment issued, and the work completed.

• My team has been working closely with the adjusters and requesting advances for our insureds. This is even more important when an insured sustained damage from both storms. We kept in close contact with insureds after Milton to determine the damage and quickly updated the adjusters, so they understood the details of the additional damage. For the clients that sustained both flood and windstorm damage, we have worked closely with both adjusters to help streamline site inspections to be done at the same time.

Pre- and Post-Storm Drone Surveys

• Nothing helps resolve a claims dilemma with an adjuster better than showing the insurance company a clear photo or video of what the building looked like prior to the loss. This is especially helpful in a catastrophic scenario.

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  On an annual basis and prior to the start of Hurricane Season, a drone survey of the property is performed on the common elements of the property including critical building components, such as the building electrical equipment and the roof.

• After both storms passed and the coast was clear, I and my team were onsite to conduct a post-loss assessment of the property. In the event of both storms, a Dropbox of the pre- and post-storm pictures and videos of the property were provided to the adjuster, the board of directors, and management.

Flood Insurance – One Adjuster

• The majority of condominium associations in Florida are written on the Residential Condominium Building Association Policy (RCBAP) Form through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). RCBAP policies are written on a per-building basis. In some instances, the insurance company assigned multiple adjusters. In these scenarios, we immediately asked the insurance company to assign one adjuster, instead of having multiple adjusters for the same property.

The key points listed above are all imperative in a catastrophic scenario. Start with preparation, ensuring that everything was documented before the storm. Give the board of directors all the pertinent information for what to expect before, during and after the storm. Then once the storm passes, have a dedicated claims team initiate the claims process and handle the claim until it is closed.

Hurricanes Helene and Milton were unprecedented storms, each in their own right. With the right processes in place, it helps to make the claims process a little easier and help to get the association back to normal as soon as possible.

Matt Mercier is national director of community associations for CBIZ, an insurance brokerage and advisory firm. He has worked with condominium associations in Florida for more than 18 years. He also is a licensed drone pilot, and provided the photos and videos above of damage brought by Hurricanes Helene and Milton to condos in the Sarasota area.

Top photo: A condo building on Siesta Key, Florida, swamped by storm surge from Hurricane Milton (Matt Mercier)

Topics Agencies Claims Windstorm