Hurricane Insurance

One of the biggest things you are going to have to worry about after a hurricane hits would be your insurance coverage. My mother had to deal with the insurance several times when we got hit by Hurricanes Charley, Francis, and Jeanne. There's a lot of red tape you're going to have to deal with the insurance agencies such as Allstate, MetLife, and State Farm.

Recently, there courts ruled in favor of the insurance agencies after this long lawsuit filed against them by the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The story was that New Orleans became flooded. Most of the homes did not have a flood insurance plan but the flooding was caused by wind damage to the levees. The levees were built to withstand up to Category 3 hurricane winds. This was one of the biggest issues regarding Hurricane Katrina, the levees.

Hurricane Katrina was a Category 5 hurricane which in turn annihilated the levees. As a result, the levees broke and most of New Orleans was flooded. Many of the claims were denied which led to the lawsuits. But the Federal Courts had ruled in favor of the insurance agencies. At the moment, there are appeals that are being filed as a result of the judgment.

Several months ago, I had seen a local news report about insurance. Ever since Charlie Crist had taken office early this year, one of his biggest aims was to reduce homeowner's insurance which is skyrocketing. He was also pushing for legislation to lower insurance rates and premiums set by the insurance agencies. In short, this was the platform that had gotten him elected as current governor of Florida.

Many Republicans and Democrats alike have been impressed and satisfied by Crist keeping his word trying to lower the insurance rates. During his first few months in office, Crist had called meetings about the insurance crisis. At the same time, insurance rates were escalating along with property taxes because of the constant construction since 2004.