In the history of the USA, hurricanes have caused unprecedented loss of life and property. We just witnessed two historic storms in the last month—Helene and Milton.
If anyone has ever driven through Florida, Georgia, or parts of South Carolina, they realize how flat these areas are. With the threat of severe tropical storms and hurricanes, nearly every commercial and residential development has built dikes, dams, and drainage areas designed to whisk away stormwater. This sounds great, but with the intensity of such powerful hurricanes, there is little to no protection for those situated near the ocean or the Gulf.
What I find significant is understanding how the Appalachian mountain range created such inland carnage in areas like Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, South Carolina and North Carolina. In particular, the mountains allow water to flow downward, where it is caught by creeks, lazy rivers, and lakes. Unfortunately, with the catastrophic deluges produced by Helene, the mountainsides became cataclysmic funnels, washing away years of infrastructure, homes, and businesses. To all of our friends and fellow citizens, our hearts go out to you.
Now is the time to help:
Canadian and Northern snowbirds, who own southern homes, have not yet started their migration. When they do, they will find that wintering in the south has taken on a much more expensive dimension. Municipal roads, bridges, residences, condos, trailers, and RVs that were destroyed or damaged by the storms need to be repaired or replaced. These storms cause home insurance premiums, State and Municipal property taxes to rise. The damage has to be paid for one way or the other: We cannot contemplate the municipal and state costs of building better bridges and better roads to deal with this ever increasing risk of devastation.
Property insurance is interesting.
As you know, the premium you pay to a home insurer is based on many factors. Essentially, an insurer pools the risk of losses among its policyholders. Risk assessments take into account where you live, the age of the home, the type of roof, storm mitigation measures, etc. Furthermore, your premium dollars are used to pay commissions to brokers, salaries to employees, and profits to owners and investors.
Good, prudent insurance companies try to place as much of the premium into the “reserve fund” as possible to pay future claims. The problem is that an individual private insurance company does not have a large enough pool of policies to offset such far-reaching catastrophic risks. Hence, they need to charge exorbitant premiums or leave the market.
Home Insurance:
Florida is a state that has already been struggling with affordable home insurance. Floridians now pay the highest home insurance rates in North America. Because of the high cost, fewer than 50% of those who live along the coast have flood insurance, and less than 10% of those who live outside a floodplain have it. In addition Municipal taxes have exploded.
With so many catastrophic hurricanes, Florida had no choice but to form its own insurance company—”Citizens.” The state insurer is less expensive than private property insurers. It offers an insurance product that is as good as, if not better than, its competitors. It will not leave when times are bad. Plus it is financially state-backed. Unfortunately, it has a limited mandate.
Florida should extend Citizens’ mandate and offer coverage to every Florida resident. In fact, every state affected by catastrophic climate change should have its own “Citizens Insurance” company. States should embrace this as an “entrepreneurial endeavor” to protect their citizens. This is not a suggestion to eliminate private insurers. On the contrary, states can operate like Lloyd’s of London, offering reinsurance to smaller private insurers. Or even better, allow private insurers to purchase a percentage of a state-owned “Citizens’ homeowners pool” (similar to laying off a bet in Vegas).
Now is the time to think outside the box. Times (and weather) are changing. There is no going back!
Remember, sometimes you need a lawyer to clarify your home owner insurance coverages, contractual rights and remedies. Don’t get lost in the shuffle. Contact us at snowbirdaccidents@yahoo.com
Cross border accidents and claims are very complicated – when help is needed call the free snowbird hotline.” Use phone number and email.
Helping Snowbirds Injured Across North America
For over 40 years, we’ve been helping Canadians involved in car accidents and other personal injury incidents while traveling in the United States. Each year, millions of snowbirds-residents from Canada (and the northern U.S.A) – head south to escape the cold. Unfortunately, accidents happen. When they do we are here to help navigate the legal and insurance challenges that arise.
Cross Border Accidents and claims are very complicated!
Call the Free Snowbird Helpline 1-800-587-6992
Or Email – snowbirdaccidents@yahoo.com,
Or https://snowbirdaccidents.com/contact/
