Florida Residents, Insurers Face Heavy Task Of Rebuilding After Hurricane Ian

With monster storms like Hurricane Ian becoming more frequent due to climate change, Florida residents face tough questions about long-term plans to rebuild. NBC’s Kathy Park reports in this week’s Sunday Focus.

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#hurricaneian #florida

[SILSAL]

These are called "barrier" islands. They were meant to be a barrier against storms to shelter the mainland a bit. (Plants and forests on these islands helped). They weren't meant to be built on. This has always been the reality and that's a reality that's not going to change.

[christopher-cfjd]

People build their homes on the side of an active volcano then wonder why they have lava in their living room. - George Carlin

[MrS]

Insurers will fight you tooth and nail to not keep their end of the deal.

[lestermount]

When the hurricane hit New Orleans the insurance companies wanted a picture of your home before processing a claim. Most homes were under water.

[charliebrown]

My brother's insurance company dropped him in June. The fact that many insurance companies do not pay goes back to Hurricane Charlie!! The state of Florida legislators are in bed with the companies too.

[AndrewDeLong]

Honestly, the home insurance market should just exit any area within 20 miles of a florida coastline. That alone would limit the number of people trying to build on the coast.

[ashtonandkylievideos]

Wow, people paid all that money to insurance, and it's not just sitting waiting for them in a bank account? Of course not, it's a scam

[stefensmith]

I had homeowners insurance just stop covering everyone in the entire state after they had to pay out to repair homes on the coast. These companies live taking money in but when they're on the hook, they run.

[kardub]

We pay all this money for insurance, and they refuse to pay you what you've paid them all these years even if it not part of the coverage? What about the 100s of thousands of dollars single individuals have given these companies over the years? We want our money back. Idc if I'm covered by flood but it was wi d damage that destroyed the house. It's all the same. Pay them their money what they've put in to it.

[jamesparks]

This is so frustrating, people choose to live 3 feet above sea level and expect the rest of the U S A to subsidize the costs to live there. I honestly feel sorry for these folks but when you live on a peninsula state with an average elevation of 3 or 4 feet you have to expect a lot of flooding. Not to mention sea levels are rising.

[chrisostling]

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while each time expecting different results. If you build conventional homes in an area with weather like this, you will have to rebuild on a regular basis. If you want to live in an area like this, you had best come up with a better type of structure that can withstand the winds and tidal surge.

[cruella]

As a resident of Florida I'm not paying to build the Dubai islands for people that want to live in the water since some of us here are already homeless before the hurricane.

[MikeJohnson-njry]

We have homes and businesses destroyed because people built in places subject to storms, and wildfires. Many have no insurance because people didn't want to mitigate their poor choices. They can ask taxpayers who can't imagine having a home near the beach to fund rebuilding in the same places so their still subject to extreme hazards. It's obvious that there are places that shouldn't be habitated.

[AgathaLOutahere]

And customers across the country will end up paying higher premiums.

[shelbyorphanage]

They lost everything and 47 billion just went to Florida

[caveman]

I don't blame the hurricane that's been going on for millions of years in nature the problem is people building their home on sand or a flood zone. 💀💀💀💀💀💀

[rogerpunk]

As a long time Miami resident where most of us come from Cuba and Puerto Rico we have been warning that building mostly wood houses in FL is a mistake. In Miami we all build cement and high up from the water. Every time a hurricane hits us we don’t worry about getting our house destroyed or flooded. U have all these folks moving here from the midwest building cheap houses and that’s why this happened to them

[Concepcion]

So, if they have no flood insurance and Fema is only going to give them five grand, then that's enough for them to relocate somewhere else for real. Most of that flood damage, five grand will not come close to covering.

[agallgood]

Need to have RV type homes only there on the coast. If a hurricane is coming you can drive your home away from the disaster. Much better way to live.

[george]

Not everything can or should be rebuilt