(NewsNation) — Insurance villages are popping up, busy with people looking to get answers about their policies and hoping they’ll get every penny they need from their insurance after Hurricane Ian’s path left destruction all across Southwest Florida.
“I need a whole new roof, I have no lanai anymore. We got power a couple of days ago so that was a game changer to have power,” Rick Crisan, a Cape Coral resident, said to NewsNation’s “Rush Hour” on Tuesday.
Crisan was in Fort Myers — another city hit hard by Hurricane Ian — in line at an insurance village. He says he believes all of Florida needs work.
“We always hope that. I mean I pay my insurance for a reason. It goes with my mortgage so hopefully it gets covered,” Crisan said, answering that he thinks he will receive enough money to fix his house.
As countless Floridians file insurance claims, state officials are already warning homeowners of bad actors.
“You might get approached by a public adjuster — there’s good ones and there’s bad ones,” said Jimmy Patronis, Florida’s Chief Financial Officer.
Hurricane Ian likely caused well over $100 billion in damage, including $63 billion in privately insured losses according to disaster modeling firm, Karen Clark and Company.
There are fears the storm could push the state’s already strained home insurance market to the limit. A major concern for some is a lack of flood insurance. —something not typically covered by a homeowner’s insurance policy.
“A lot of people talk about oh yeah insurance will cover it. Some people could be facing five figure payouts just to cover the deductible,” Brian Gleason, from the Charlotte County public safety office, said speaking with NewsNation’s Mitch Carr on “Early Morning.”
“This is an elderly community and some folks will struggle to meet those deductibles and so their damage will be lasting for a long time,” Gleason continued.
FEMA, so far, says its already approved more than $190 million in disaster assistance, but a lot of people will need to front the money for repairs until financial assistance can come through.
