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Category: General Hurricane Dispute Information

  • Speculation on how to save the insurance industry

    The recent events in Florida and the exit of various insurance companies from areas surrounding the Gulf Coast have raised a lot of speculation on how to preserve competition within these states while at the same time not forcing the government’s hand to bail out in the event of a disaster. About a month ago The Florida Times-Union wrote on this topic and how drastic the decisions may be to keep a level playing field for residents.

    Florida’s property insurance system is a ticking time bomb, one that could wreak havoc on the state’s economy when – that’s when, not if – the next hurricanes hit.

    This is because the state-run catastrophic fund, which shares property insurance risks with companies that sell policies here, is egregiously underfunded.

    In a worst-case scenario, insured homeowners might face long delays in getting money to rebuild their hurricane-damaged houses – and all Floridians could be stuck with very high taxes or “assessments” to raise the needed money.

    So, what’s the solution?

    Ideally, it would be to spread out some of the costs through a federal catastrophic natural disaster fund, similar to the federal flood insurance program.

    It’s doubtful that either of Florida’s senators, or any of its House members, have enough clout with their colleagues to get the job done.

    While there is no clear answer in sight and Florida is not alone on this issue as insurers in Louisiana and Texas have shown the same sort of reluctance and could go the way of others soon, debate on reform is essential. Without this topic being out in the public discourse, policy holders can be left shocked when a provider pulls out of a state or region.

    KBMT in Southeast Texas similarly outlined issues relating to premiums and insurance agents in discussing the problems facing their viewership

    According to the Insurance Information Institute, homeowners insurance premiums are up about three percent nationwide and probably more in some coastal areas where the potential for damage is greater.

    Several factors are affecting premiums and coverage, including the $26 billion insurers paid out on catastrophic losses in 2008 and the impact of financial market turmoil on the companies earnings.

    Changes in state regulations are also driving some premiums higher.

    This outlook is not all that positive for homeowners in the region as a whole but, when combined with the first article, demonstrates how significantly important it is for some solution to be reached in the coming years to prevent residents of the Gulf Coast, in various states, from being damaged harshly by these insurance issues. By staying on top of the issue and making sure that the elected officials of the area and on the federal level are doing everything they can to keep insurance companies in the region and more money in the pockets of policy holders.

  • Making yourself familiar with your insurance policy and coverage

    With hurricane season in full swing, it is important for home and property owners to be fully aware and clear about their insurance and coverage, or lack thereof, that it provides. Whether living in a flood plain or tucked safely in a non-flooding area, residents of the Gulf Coast can be affected all the same by a hurricane by the list of dangers such as wind or rain damage. Going through your policy and making sure the proper cover necessary to properly rebuild in the event of storm damage is there will help prevent nasty surprises should the unthinkable happen and serious destruction befalls you.

    Tim Engstrom from Southwest Florida’s News-Press has more

    Most homeowners – especially those outside high-hazard coastal zones – can find coverage, but it is likely to be with a newer, less-familiar company, said Randy Duncan, an agent with the Insurance Depot of Lee County in Cape Coral.

    “The days of name-brand coverage are over,” Duncan said. “All that really matters is whether the company is A-rated – can it cover its expenses in the event of a loss?”
    There is no “hurricane insurance”; homeowners’ insurance is actually a collection of insurance coverage that includes such hazards as windstorm, fire, lightning and more.

    Duncan said homeowners frequently forget that their windstorm coverage typically carries a much higher deductible – based on a percentage of the insured value – than other coverage.

    The article goes on, citing the need to reup your policy coverage in the event of home upgrades or additions, as well as keeping an extra copy of insurance documents with personal documentation in a safety deposit box or other “outside” storage area away from the home. Available here, the article is a good read for anyone living in the Gulf Coast to make sure they are up to task on their preparation and insurance values.

  • Revised New Orleans flood-risk maps on display

    Per The Times-Picayune

    Newly revised Preliminary Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps showing the potential for flooding caused by a 100-year rainfall and hurricane-strength surge for New Orleans will be available for review and discussion at a Wednesday open house in City Park.

    The event will be held from 2 to 8 p.m. at the Pavilion of the Two Sisters in the City Park Botanical Gardens on Victory Drive.

    Specialists will be available to answer questions about the maps, which will be available in paper and digital formats.

    Viewing the maps is a great opportunity for home and property owners to see an updated technological analysis of their risk of flooding. With experts on hand to help explain what is being illustrated, New Orleans residents may find out more on how rainfall specifically may affect and harm their home depending on where it sits in the city.

    The Louisiana Mapping Project may be found online at www.lamappingproject.com. There you will find more information and details regarding FEMA’s Louisiana Mapping Project and how they are developed and adopted. You may also call the project through their call center at (866) 751-3989, M-F 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

  • Upgraded New Orleans storm barrier system to cost $1.8 Billion

    While the Army Corps of Engineers continues to design, build and implement a storm preparedness system that prevents the type of flooding New Orleans saw after Hurricane Katrina, the price has gone shockingly high. Per an Associated Press article, creating a satisfactory system of floodgates and other water barriers will cost nearly two billion dollars, nearly 15% of the budgeted money the area was given to rebuild.

    Top brass at the Army Corps of Engineers say the estimated price of a major project to build three floodgates and a 1.8-mile storm surge barrier to protect New Orleans from hurricanes is now $1.8 billion.

    The cost of closing off the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal has risen since the project began last year. The structures being built on the eastern flank of New Orleans are among the most important features in the Army Corps’ plan to defend the city against hurricanes.

    Army Corps officials say they have asked Congress to allow it to use $540 million in funds slated for other projects to finish the work on the canal by 2011.

    In all, Congress gave the corps $14.3 billion after Hurricane Katrina to build a better flood protection system for the New Orleans region.

    It is important this project does not get weighed down in the bureaucracy of delays and halts while budgeting is figured out because the city cannot afford, literally, to experience another meltdown of implemented fail-safes as it did in the wake of Katrina. By prioritizing this effort, the government would demonstrate a clear desire to protect the city from future harm and give the corps a project it can be proud of completing. To not do so would be catastrophic when the next great hurricane comes.

  • New Orleans hurricane center still not close to open

    In something that will likely not come as a surprise to residents of New Orleans, a planned command center for emergency operations in the event of a hurricane that was scheduled to be ready last Monday is nowhere near ready.

    In pictures provided by WWL, the site looks more like a recent renovation than what is supposed to be the nerve center for communications should a devastating storm return to the city.

    WWL’s Scott Satchfield reports

    When hurricanes threaten emergency operations centers, or EOC’s, across the state are the nerve centers for first responders and emergency managers. It’s where they come together to make key decisions for public safety.

    That won’t be happening anytime soon inside the space that is designated to become the New Orleans’ new emergency operations center.

    Located on the ninth floor of City Hall, it’s mostly empty aside from some wires hang from the ceiling, and piles of broken concrete sitting on the floor.

    It was supposed to be ready by Monday, the first day of hurricane season.

    While an office exists now, there is a very urgent need for the delays that have put off this new site’s construction to be removed and work to go forward. Though it will obviously not be in place for this year, one can only hope it will be operational in 2010.

  • Prepare for Hurricane Season

    This weekend is as good a time as any to prepare your family, home, business and/or property for hurricane season. Our blog has featured various tips on how to be ready in the event of a hurricane and what steps you can take to insure you are on solid footing in the aftermath of a storm.

    Simply go to the Storm and Hurricane tips section of this blog to find out more information.

  • Poll indicates Gulf Coast residents STILL not hurricane-ready

    In a report by Fox News, most coastal residents are not prepared for hurricane season.

    Many Americans who live in Gulf and Atlantic Coast states are not prepared for an active 2009 hurricane season, despite being slammed last year, a new Mason-Dixon poll found.

    More than half those surveyed, 66 percent, said they don’t have a hurricane survival kit and 62 percent said they don’t feel vulnerable to a hurricane or related tornado or flooding.

    A majority of them, 83 percent, said they haven’t done anything in the past year to make their houses more hurricane-resistant, according to the poll.

    While the last fact, that more preparation has not been undertaken since last year, may be a bit misleading as many residents of the Gulf Coast took extraordinary measures in the wake of Katrina to be ready, these numbers are still troubling. Storm and Hurricane preparation and informational tips are available within this blog and residents of Louisiana, Florida, Alabama, Texas and other states are urged to become vigilant in keeping up in their preparations. Check your insurance information to see if it covers any new developments or additions to your home or property and, again, follow some of these tips. The time is most definitely well spent as the storm season approaches.

  • Hurricane Season Has Begun

    Today, according to the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, marks the beginning of hurricane season.

    The Atlantic hurricane season is officially from 1 June to 30 November. There is nothing magical in these dates, and hurricanes have occurred outside of these six months, but these dates were selected to encompass over 97% of tropical activity. June 1st has been the traditional start of the Atlantic hurricane season for decades. However, the end date has been slowly shifted outward, from October 31st to November 15th until its current date of November 30th.

    Now, before it’s too late, make sure your insurance premiums are up to date, your coverage is what you wanted and your home plan on emergency preparation is ready. For more information on how to be prepared for storms and hurricanes, check out our blog posts that go over a variety of ways to be prepared in the event of a disaster or tropical storm.

  • Louisiana moving forward in insurance legislation

    The Louisiana senate move forward with changes for Citizens insurance that will hopefully help home and property owners with their coverage and recovery in the event of a hurricane or natural disaster. NOLA.com reports:

    The state-run insurer of last resort should have new guidelines to set rates and possibly slow the increase in premiums to homeowners, the Senate decided today.

    Approved 30-2, Senate Bill 130 by Sen. Troy Hebert, D-Jeanerette, goes to the House Insurance Committee for more debate.
    Hebert said if the bill had been in effect this year, the average 7 percent rate increase imposed May 1 by the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp., would have been about 3.2 percent.

    Hebert’s bill would require the reworking of the formula Citizens uses in setting rates. Under existing law, Citizens cannot charge competitive rates with private insurance companies in an area. It must add a 10 percent surcharge on top of the highest rate charged by private insurers in a parish.

    With Louisiana, and any legislature in general, any progress is good progress. Hopefully rates will fall progressively with this new measure as coverage and damages require a full, multi-lateral effort amongst all involved.

  • Gulf Coast Hurricanes serving as a lesson for states nationwide

    While stories have been popping up progressively in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina, Gustav and Ike, one interesting development has been the efforts by lawmakers and citizens for preparedness should an unpredictable catastrophe befall their hometown. States along the Eastern Seaboard have been taking action instituting insurance measures and local disaster drills should an unexpected and devastating hurricane knock on their doorstep.

    New Jersey is one of those states, taking it as far as to create a fund that would help make sure homeowners would be protected in the event of a cataclysmic storm:

    Today, the Legislature will begin hearings on how to best protect New Jersey homeowners from the devastation of major hurricanes or other natural disasters. This is an important and timely step; the Atlantic hurricane season begins in less than a month and New Jersey is both exposed and vulnerable to those storms.

    The Senate Commerce Committee will hear testimony on the “New Jersey Consumer Catastrophe Preparedness and Protection Act” (S2089), sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester). It would use private insurer dollars to create a fund that would stand behind the traditional insurance market to cover the most extreme losses from truly massive hurricanes — not the routine storms that sweep across beachfront properties, but those whose devastation would stretch far beyond our coastal communities and well into many of our urban centers.
    Because the fund would be a pubic-private partnership, private insurer dollars that are deposited into the fund, as well as the fund’s investment income, would be exempt from state and federal taxes. Mandatory annual deposits combined with tax-free investment income would help the fund to grow year after year.

    A portion of the investment income, but not the principal deposits, would by law be annually appropriated for preparation and planning so that damages from storms could be minimized. A portion would be used to enhance first-responder training and equipment so that lives could be better protected when the unthinkable does happen. A portion would also be dedicated to improve consumer and homeowner education so that residents can be informed and prepared in the event of a massive natural event.

    It’s good to see that the lessons of the past will not be forgotten so easily, even in states that did not face such hardships directly.