Florida Hurricane Insurance Claims

Filing Florida Hurricane Insurance Claims

The official Atlantic hurricane season runs from June through November, but occasionally storms form outside those months. September is the most common month for hurricanes making landfall in the U.S., followed by August and October, according to an analysis of 1851 to 2015 data by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. No hurricanes made U.S. landfall before June and after November during the period studied. This means most hurricane damage to your home occurs between July and November. 

Hurricanes are tropical cyclones whose sustained winds have reached 74 mph. At this point the hurricane reaches category 1 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which has a range of 1 to 5, based on the hurricane’s intensity at the time of landfall at the location experiencing the strongest winds. The scale provides examples of the type of damage and impacts in the United States associated with winds of the indicated intensity. It does not address the potential for other hurricane-related phenomena such as storm surge, rainfall-induced floods and tornadoes.

What does this mean for your home? The destructive power of a hurricane is enough to wreak havoc on your roof, siding, and housing structure. But that’s not all – storm surges and flooding associated with hurricanes can do equal or more damage to your home than the hurricane itself. So even a smaller hurricane can produce flooding that has a major impact on your properties. Whether the hurricane hits a high point on the scale or not – if your property has sustained damage, filing a Florida hurricane insurance claim can provide a much-needed relief from your insurance company – and we can help.

Florida Hurricane Insurance Claims in 2020

The 2020 hurricane season produced 27 named storms. Ten—Hanna, Isaias, Laura, Marco, Nana, Paulette, Sally, Teddy, Delta and Epsilon—became hurricanes. Four hurricanes, Laura, Teddy, Delta and Epsilon—became major (category 3 or stronger) storms. A typical year has 12 named storms, six hurricanes, and three major hurricanes. Ten named storms or hurricanes made landfall in the United States, nine in the continental United States. The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season broke records as tropical storm Edouard formed as the earliest fifth Atlantic named storm on record, according to Phillip Klotzbach, and continued to shatter earliest storm records through Zeta as the earliest twenty-seventh.

The season began early as tropical storm Arthur formed on May 16 in the Atlantic Ocean east of Florida, marking the sixth consecutive year that the hurricane season began before the traditional official beginning of the season on June 1. Tropical storm Bertha, the second named storm to occur before the official beginning of the hurricane season, formed on May 27 near South Carolina. After making landfall near Charleston with winds of 50 mph, Bertha brought heavy rainfall in South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. According to Aon, 2020 is the third year since 1965 that two named storms developed in the Atlantic Ocean before the beginning of the hurricane season. The company said the storm caused millions of dollars in insured losses.

Expected annual economic losses from most types of damage caused by hurricane winds and storm-related flooding total $54 billion—$34 billion in losses to households, $9 billion to commercial businesses, and $12 billion to the public sector. Contact us to get help filing your Florida hurricane insurance claims, and let us help you get the maximum payout from your insurance company.