Cleaning up after Hurricane Ian

Every day someone tells me a new story about the hurricane that hit central Florida. While the final damage tally will be years away, the impact on the people with property there and my industry will be felt for years to come.

I ran into a person I know who is an independent adjuster. Independent adjusters work for insurance companies and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on an as-needed basis. He works these catastrophes on a regular basis. I asked when was he leaving for Florida. His response was he didn't know: There are no places left where he can stay. All the people who evacuated have taken all the rooms.

My thought immediately went to all the first responders and what issues they are dealing with, then to the second responders trying to get there to help with no place close to stay. I realized they must carry with them not only work tools but food, water, everything they need to survive. A useable bathroom may be an hour drive.

My second story is from a friend who has a condo in what I thought was a fairly good distance from the ocean. He was in Pennsylvania at the time of the storm. He was told by his neighbors that his place only received a few inches of water and should be OK..

He loaded up his truck, and he and his brother-in-law, who is a contractor, headed to Florida. While I didn't think this was a good idea, I kept my mouth shut. He got there this past Monday to find a car and and golf cart totaled. He began drying out the place with dehumidifiers and fans using a portable generator, all of which he had brought with him. Then he proceeded to cut the drywall back two feet high and removing it. Seemed to me he had a plan.

Yesterday I received a text from him: We have a mandatory order to evacuate our property. The water that got into his home was determined to be a "CAT 3 water." I looked it up: Category 3 water – grossly unsanitary water containing pathogenic agents, arising from sewage or other contaminated water source and having the likelihood of causing discomfort or sickness if consumed or exposed to humans. He went on to tell me all the kitchen cabinets and bathroom cabinets needed to be ripped out and disposed of. Furniture that has wood or porous material must go. That was all his furniture.

My last story was about a client who lost his entire home. Because of its location, the only insurance he could purchase was through FEMA. FEMA limited his coverage to $250,000. The value to rebuild his home will exceed this amount. I'm sure some of you are thinking he should have known the risk. I'm wondering why both the state and federal government built roads, bridges, water and sewage systems, and provided insurance to an area that they knew some day would be destroyed by a hurricane. I am also curious if they will continue to repair and replace this infrastructure knowing some day the storm will return.

Each year the country spends $145 billion to $165 billion to repair or replace property damaged by natural events. Maybe it's time to limit where we allow people to build. Or at least be smarter where we build our infrastructure.

Bob Hollick is a State Farm Insurance agent based in Washington. His column appears every other week in the Observer-Reporter.