Hurricane Michael

[luvsJack]

And that's how the nightmare continues. The fight with insurance companies and FEMA can be a second gut punch and worse than losing your property the first time.

Look up State Farm and the Rigsby sisters. Insurance adjusters who were ordered by State Farm to deny claims that should have been paid.

It was infuriating!!! We didn’t have State Farm but my sister did. FEMA mad you feel like you were lying about the damage.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

My wrestling kids are in a planning session tonight about putting together a benefit for the victims of Hurricane Michael. It may take them a few weeks as it’s a bit of work putting a show together but we are hoping to get donations either monetary or items that can be raffled off as well as all ticket money going to the cause.

They have some wrestlers they have worked with that have lost everything. And a couple more they haven’t been able to reach. DS has a house full of friends that evacuated here but they don’t know if the ones they can’t reach evacuated or not.

Good for them. I wish we were close enough to support their fundraiser. I have a niece in the military that's currently living in the Panhandle. If you have info to share later, please post a link. I'll send it to her to share with all their military friends.

 

[Southernmiss]

Insurance here is outrageous. The infuriates me.

Yes. Insurance is now for dire situations . We don't want to poke the bear. And we pay through the nose.

Allstate gave us $4,000 after Katrina for our damages and our roof leaked in our garage for 11 years until we paid out of pocket for a new one. At the time of Katrina, our roof was only 2 years old. We thought that $ would fix our roof. Several contractors later, it did not.

We would definitely fight for a new roof had we to do it again.

But now we would not file for claims under $10,000 or so.

 

[luvsJack]

Good for them. I wish we were close enough to support their fundraiser. I have a niece in the military that's currently living in the Panhandle. If you have info to share later, please post a link. I'll send it to her to share with all their military friends.

Thanks!! I sure will!

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Yes. Insurance is now for dire situations . We don't want to poke the bear. And we pay through the nose.

Allstate gave us $4,000 after Katrina for our damages and our roof leaked in our garage for 11 years until we paid out of pocket for a new one.

We would definitely fight for a new roof had we to do it again.

But now we would not file for claims under $10,000 or so.

The sad thing is that makes sense for those of us living in hurricane prone areas. It's not always worth the increase in premium, but it shouldn't be that way. If you pay the outrageous premiums, they should pay. Instead, they try to get out of paying & raise premiums for everyone in a hurricane area in that state.

 

[GreatLakes]

If these storms continue to increase in frequency there will be no one selling insurance in parts of the coast at some point. My wife works for an insurer that no longer insures any property at all in parts of the Florida coast including the panhandle. They just took too many loses and no longer even offer policies.

 

[Southernmiss]

If these storms continue to increase in frequency there will be no one selling insurance in parts of the coast at some point. My wife works for an insurer that no longer insures any property at all in parts of the Florida coast including the panhandle. They just took too many loses and no longer even offer policies.

Many companies backed out of our region after Katrina. We were fortunate to have insurance.

Companies have begun tiptoeing back in, but you are correct our choices are limited.

I would like to see national all perils insurance explored to cover a variety of natural disasters.

Thing is, we are 11 miles inland from the Coast and as we see in tonight's news, Michael is continuing to wreak havoc all the way to Maryland, Pennsylvania and further north. So it's not only those who live on the beaches that are affected.

 

[GreatLakes]

Many companies backed out of our region after Katrina. We were fortunate to have insurance.

Companies have begun tiptoeing back in, but you are correct our choices are limited.

I would like to see national all perils insurance explored to cover a variety of natural disasters.

I'm not sure how that would work unless you offset the huge losses in parts of the country prone to hurricanes, floods, fires, and earthquakes by drastically increasing the costs for people in less-prone areas and I don't want to see that.

 

[Southernmiss]

I'm not sure how that would work unless you offset the huge losses in parts of the country prone to hurricanes, floods, fires, and earthquakes without drastically increasing the costs for people in less-prone areas and I don't want to see that.

Yea, I've seen your stance on this before.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

If these storms continue to increase in frequency there will be no one selling insurance in parts of the coast at some point. My wife works for an insurer that no longer insures any property at all in parts of the Florida coast including the panhandle. They just took too many loses and no longer even offer policies.

As Southernmiss mentioned, that's already the case. We've been in Florida for 21 years & it hasn't always been that way. Again, I'll have to leave it at that.

FWIW, we've never filed an insurance claim for hurricane damage.

 

[NotUrsula]

Not sure where you lived in the panhandle but the land there is a far cry from “little value”.

A lot of young couple do start out with mobile homes on family land here in the south or used to. But the land isn’t worthless. Quite the opposite actually. Now the family not having cash may or may not be true but that doesn’t always have anything to do with the worth of the land they live on. I, myself, live on family land. When we built our house 18 years ago the land was $8000 an acre. It’s quite a bit more now. The land in the rural areas of the panhandle is quite similar.

As for the pp’s question or post, mobile homes used to show lower income areas. Not so much anymore. Sometimes it’s people who live in an area seasonally (snowbirds or people that work in the area in the tourist season or shrimp season).

I didn't say (nor did I mean) worthless, I said little value -- as in, how much money one could net by selling some of it to raise cash. While there are many areas of the Panhandle that have very nice land values, some of the inland Panhandle counties still have pockets where the land value is very low relative to the regional average, and those also tend to be the areas with the lowest per-capita income. For instance, there are still some areas of Holmes County with land valued at under $5K/acre. In that case, even selling 10 acres wouldn't net enough to build a traditional home unless the build was DIY.

(FTR, I have never lived in the Panhandle, but I spent a lot of time there as a child, and I know a lot of people who have settled there over the years after spending time in the USAF. I grew up in rural South Louisiana, which has both a similar climate and a similar economy to many of the non-beachy parts of the Panhandle. And yes, I did live in a mobile home for many years.)

For an article on co-op style mobile home parks in Florida, I suggest reading this Time magazine article: http://time.com/4710619/the-home-of-the-future/
(The parks the author visited are in Zephyrhills, but there are similar parks in the Panhandle.)

 

[luvsJack]

Many companies backed out of our region after Katrina. We were fortunate to have insurance.

Companies have begun tiptoeing back in, but you are correct our choices are limited.

I would like to see national all perils insurance explored to cover a variety of natural disasters.

Thing is, we are 11 miles inland from the Coast and as we see in tonight's news, Michael is continuing to wreak havoc all the way to Maryland, Pennsylvania and further north. So it's not only those who live on the beaches that are affected.

We are a around 60 miles inland. My bil built big chicken houses (laying houses for egg production) about 2 years ago. The hardest part was getting insurance so he could get the loans and the contracts. The reason? “Hurricane prone area”. He had to do some searching for insurance to cover the houses.

 

[Southernmiss]

We are a around 60 miles inland. My bil built big chicken houses (laying houses for egg production) about 2 years ago. The hardest part was getting insurance so he could get the loans and the contracts. The reason? “Hurricane prone area”. He had to do some searching for insurance to cover the houses.

It's so easy to say people live too close to the gulf, ocean, etc. But how far inland would they have people live?

Insurance rates are high in our entire state. The distance from Waveand MS to Memphis TN is 377 miles a 6 hour drive.

There are jobs affecting everyone in the nation dependant in the proximity to water
Oil field workers, National defense ship builders, port workers-who unload tanker ships bringing in goods (chicken, bananas, fabric, and much more) from across the world, military-Hurricane Hunters, etc.

They have to have access to things to meet their basic needs. And many complaining certainly enjoy the hotels and beaches in good times where tourism workers don't make much more than minimum wage.

Michael has reached people in interior states all the way to Delaware and New Jersey far from the beaches of Florida.

 

[luvsJack]

It's so easy to say people live too close to the gulf, ocean, etc. But how far inland would they have people live?

Insurance rates are high in our entire state. The distance from Waveand MS to Memphis TN is 377 miles a 6 hour drive.

There are jobs affecting everyone in the nation defendant in the proximity to water
Oil field workers, ship builders, miitary-Hurricane Hunters, etc. They have to have access to things to meet their basic needs. And many complaining certainly enjoy the hotels and beaches in good times where tourism workers don't make much more than minimum wage.

Michael had reached people in interior states all the way to Delaware and New Jersey far from the beaches of Florida.

Exactly! We were in Jackson MS in Katrina. Driving home, there was devastation literally from the coast to the capital! Power was out all the way, trees covering the highway. With that storm, not living on the coast didn’t prevent a darn thing. And it’s the same with Michael.

These high insurance rates or refusals to insure due to hurricanes is far from a coastal problem.

 

[Suprachica79]

I'm not sure how that would work unless you offset the huge losses in parts of the country prone to hurricanes, floods, fires, and earthquakes by drastically increasing the costs for people in less-prone areas and I don't want to see that.

This has already happened in our area. I live about 50 miles inland from the CT coast. After Sandy killed the coast line, the entire states’ premiums went way up because they took such big losses from that storm. We are a small state, and the portions that took hits were multi-million dollar vacation homes so the losses were huge. My insurance agent said most carriers with a big stake in the state jumped their premiums by 20-100% to cover their losses and hedge against future storms.

 

[luvsJack]

I'm not sure how that would work unless you offset the huge losses in parts of the country prone to hurricanes, floods, fires, and earthquakes by drastically increasing the costs for people in less-prone areas and I don't want to see that.

How much of the country is "less prone" to something?

And like SouthernMiss said, our state is seeing higher premiums all over the state, not just the coast. While there was destruction throughout the center of the state, there were actually some areas that weren't touched and yet they are paying these higher premiums too.

 

[Southernmiss]

How much of the country is "less prone" to something?

And like SouthernMiss said, our state is seeing higher premiums all over the state, not just the coast. While there was destruction throughout the center of the state, there were actually some areas that weren't touched and yet they are paying these higher premiums too.

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-10-states-safest-from-natural-disasters.html

These areas. But they are not immune to forces of nature.

Most parts of the world are plagued by one kind of natural disaster or another. Natural disasters range from hurricanes and tornadoes all the way to earthquakes and droughts. Every time such a disaster happens, there are millions of people who are affected. Some people may end up dead while others are left homeless and without shelter and food. Another adverse effect of natural disasters is that they cost billions of dollars since the government and other humanitarian agencies use extensive resources in order to help the affected people. Some of the more recent natural disasters in the US include the devastating Hurricane Maria and Hurricane Harvey. The latter has recently devastated parts of Houston, Texas. Another hurricane, Irma, ravaged parts of Florida while there was a massive earthquake that shook Mexico City leaving hundreds dead. The following 10 US states are considered the safest from natural disasters, as they are not very prone to natural disasters of any kind.

10. Montana
The state of Montana is in the western region of the US and is characterized by a diverse landscape which includes the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains. Although the state sees few natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes, Montana is known to flood on occasion. However, there are only been 5 significant floods in the past century.

9. New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the US located in the New England region. It has the shortest ocean coastline of the coastal states and is known for its vast forests. Like the other Atlantic states, New Hampshire is at risk of hurricanes, however as they tend to lose their intensity as they move northwards, the New Hampshire coast largely remains out of harm's way. As such, flooding is the primary concern in New Hampshire. It is signifiant to note that the state was ranked sixth in terms of emergency preparedness in an analysis by WalletHub.

8. Maine
The state of Maine is located in the northern-easternmost region of the United States. The sparsely populated state of Maine is famous for its rugged coastlines. Luckily the state's northern location means that it's vast coastline does not normally see hurricanes as is common further south. The state is, however, known for severe summer storms which can include thunder, lightning, and flooding.

7. Maryland
Most of the suburbs in Maryland including the likes of Rockville, Frederick, and Bethesda were ranked as some of the safest cities. Even then, a cursory glance at the history of natural disasters in Maryland shows that storms and blizzards are the most common type of disasters. A few floods have also occurred in the past although not as serious as other parts of the country.

6. Colorado
Colorado, a state in the western side of the United States, is full of river canyons, arid deserts, and the Rocky Mountains covered in snow. Despite all this, data shows that Colorado is safer than most of the other states. Threats such as hurricanes, earthquakes, droughts, tornadoes, and others are minimal.

5. Ohio
Ohio is a state in the Midwest which ranges from the Appalachian Mountains to the south all the way to Lake Erie to the north. According to CBS News, Ohio was the second-safest US city for natural disasters, with Cincinnati and Dayton also making the list. Although the state is near the infamous Tornado Alley and sees several tornadoes a year, the deadliest tornado recorded in the state dates back to 1924.

4. Vermont
Vermont is situated in the northeastern part of the United States and is made up of a forested natural landscape for the most part. Vermont, which is also a part of the region of New England, is defended from most natural disasters. In addition, the financial safety of the state to take care of its people in case of a disaster and the state's emergency preparedness rate it as one of the safest states from natural disasters.

3. Illinois
Bordering Indiana and the Mississippi River, the state of Illinois is also among the best places to live. Unlike most of the coastal cities of the US, Illinois, whose nickname is the Prairie State, is unlikely to be plagued by the common natural disasters such as earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, and other disasters. Even drought does not affect the state so much due to the presence of Lake Michigan nearby which provides essential water for human, plant, and animal survival. Despite all of this, some natural disasters that may occur in Illinois include flooding, heat waves, and extreme cold.

2. Minnesota
This state is in the Midwestern regions of the US and is bounded by Lake Superior and Canada. Minnesota, otherwise known as the Twin Cities, is also among the safest places from natural disasters. Based on data from the past 30 years about the frequency and the severity of the natural hazards, Minnesota is relatively safe but there are some confirmed risks of natural disasters in Minnesota. For example, there was a tornado that hit the state in 2011. In addition, there have been some floods in the past. However, the severity of these disasters is low compared to most of the other places.

1. Michigan
Michigan is a state in the mid-western region of the United States. Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other sources show that Michigan, whose largest city is Detroit and is bordered by four of the Great Lakes, is ranked as one of the safest cities in the US as it is shielded from natural catastrophes. In Michigan, the risk of hurricanes, tornadoes, or earthquakes is minimal. Even though the past has seen Michigan experiencing a few earthquakes and tornadoes, they were not as severe as other parts of the US.

 

[Nayan]

It's so easy to say people live too close to the gulf, ocean, etc. But how far inland would they have people live?

I have heard this line from many people and I am getting convinced that with the way storms are getting stronger it's not going to matter. Charlie was the first time that I have ever heard the words "Hurricane warning for Orlando". I have heard it a couple times since. It's not comforting. Moving inland might be safer as far as major damage or storm surge, but it doesn't make you immune to the wind or rain, especially if it's a storm like Harvey or Florence that moves slow and sits and spins.

 

[GreatLakes]

How much of the country is "less prone" to something?

And like SouthernMiss said, our state is seeing higher premiums all over the state, not just the coast. While there was destruction throughout the center of the state, there were actually some areas that weren't touched and yet they are paying these higher premiums too.

Insurance actuaries run models on risk and determine that all the time. A person's insurance rate is figured, in simplified terms, by likelihood of a payout. The more likely it is for an individual the higher their premiums. There is some smoothing to spread risk over a geographic area (could be a state or region) but the fact of the matter is if you live in an area more prone to a payout you will (and should) pay higher premiums.

If the likelihood of a payout breaks certain thresholds (and as storms increase with warming oceans that is more likely to happen) there will come a time when no insurer will touch the risk. It has nothing to do with specifically living near the coast. It could be living in an area where wild fires become too common or in a low lying area far from the coast that becomes regularly flooded with increased storms as they spread across the country post-landfall.

I know my wife's company is preparing models and business plans for withdrawal completely from entire states because they would rather not take on any of the risk. It isn't the personal property policies you really have to worry about in reality. It is the withdrawal of commercial insurers that will spell the death of large swaths of land. No commercial insurance = no commercial loans = very few businesses willing to risk being in these areas.

It is just the reality of what is happening with our changing climate.

 

[luvsJack]

Insurance actuaries run models on risk and determine that all the time. A person's insurance rate is figured, in simplified terms, by likelihood of a payout. The more likely it is for an individual the higher their premiums. There is some smoothing to spread risk over a geographic area (could be a state or region) but the fact of the matter is if you live in an area more prone to a payout you will (and should) pay higher premiums.

If the likelihood of a payout breaks certain thresholds (and as storms increase with warming oceans that is more likely to happen) there will come a time when no insurer will touch the risk. It has nothing to do with specifically living near the coast. It could be living in an area where wild fires become too common or in a low lying area far from the coast that becomes regularly flooded with increased storms as they spread across the country post-landfall.

I know my wife's company is preparing models and business plans for withdrawal completely from entire states because they would rather not take on any of the risk. It isn't the personal property policies you really have to worry about in reality. It is the withdrawal of commercial insurers that will spell the death of large swaths of land. No commercial insurance = no commercial loans = very few businesses willing to risk being in these areas.

It is just the reality of what is happening with our changing climate.

So if they pull out of entire states, that means they have a smaller pool of potential clients, right? Let's say they don't insure Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas due to the large hurricanes. That's a LOT of businesses. Take off the parts of TX that don't have destruction from hurricanes and you still have a LOT of potential clients that they will no longer have.

The company still has to make a profit, no? So wouldn't that still mean higher premiums for the people they will insure?

And the thing is, Katrina was 15 years ago. There hasn't been a major storm HERE since then. There were some before her that did damage but not catastrophic. The last one that did that was perhaps Camille. In 1969. Maybe I can move that up some to Fredrick in the late 70's. There were a couple of others that caused power outages and damage to certain structures but not like those two.

In Florida, this is the first one in decades to hit the panhandle like this. And in the years that Florida does take a hit, its not the whole state or even the same parts of the state.

So, my point is, they are withdrawing from entire states for something that happens once a decade in an area? With the price of premiums and the number of insured they have that don't make claims ever, they got to be recouping that money. I don't know, sounds like to me they want to be in the business of writing policies without payouts. Not what insurance is really supposed to be, is it?