Losses from the recent hurricanes Florence and Michael now total in the tens of billions of dollars. Fifty people died across the Carolinas and Virginia and Florida’s farming and timber industries took devastating hits. With hurricane Willa having barreled across Mexico towards the United States—now as a tropical storm—it’s become increasingly clear that today’s storms have the potential to cause catastrophic damage with greater frequency than we’ve ever seen. The cleanup from these storms won’t be cheap or easy.
Coming on the heels of 2017’s record hurricane season, one in which Harvey wrought $125 billion worth of havoc on Houston and the Texas coast, and Irma and Maria battered the Caribbean and Puerto Rico, any hope that this year’s hurricane season would be gentler seems to have faded.
The National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted that the 2018 hurricane season could be a doozy: forecasters saw a 70-percent likelihood of 10 to 16 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher). Anywhere from one to four of these could be major hurricanes (category 3, 4 or 5 with winds of 111 mph or higher). An average hurricane season results in 12 named storms that include three major hurricanes.
We're is still the heart of the North American hurricane season, which runs from June through November, and homeowners need to remain on alert. I should know. I own a home in Port Aransas, Texas, which was nearly decimated by the flooding from Hurricane Harvey last August.
To give you a sense of the scale of this storm, our air conditioning unit, which is located on top of my fourth-floor condominium, was completely rusted out with seawater. Although my home looked fine on first glance, the minute we stepped inside, we realized that the carpet was soaked, there was sand on the windowsills and moisture had so thoroughly penetrated the walls that we had to tear some out entirely. It took nine months of repairs before we could move back in.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, hurricanes cause about $28 billion of damage each year, on average (you can see how much more destructive Harvey was; in recent years it was second only to Hurricane Katrina, which cost about $161 billion). Florida, Texas and Louisiana take the brunt of that.According to NOAA, U.S. coastal homes at risk from hurricane losses equal trillions of dollars.Estimates for the 2018 hurricane season alone suggest that storm surges—when storms cause water levels to rise abnormally high—threaten 6.9 million homes along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. Rebuilding these properties would cost more than $1.6 trillion.
So, what are homeowners to do when trying to handle the aftermath of these storms, especially if their property is not a primary residence and they are managing from afar? In my personal experience, and also working with hundreds of homeowners in the wake of natural disasters, I’ve found there are three main areas to focus on: 1.) What assistance the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) can offer, 2.) what your insurance covers, and 3.) clean-up and repairs.
When it comes to a FEMA response, what’s not widely known is that the agency does not offer assistance for damage done to second homes. While this can be a blow if your vacation property lies in a storm’s path, you are not left entirely to your own devices when the winds settle. If FEMA issues a region-wide cleanup in an area that includes your home, you can still take advantage of some of their services. Often during this process FEMA will ask homeowners to put debris from their residences on the street and then they will collect it. When this happens, they don’t usually discriminate between primary and second homes.
Filing timely insurance claims after a hurricane passes is essential for all homeowners. And, unless you’ve paid for your home in cash, most banks require you to obtain a minimum amount of insurance, so you will likely have some coverage. Still, what kind of insurance, and how much, you choose is a personal decision—one that is well worth evaluating. When you do, consider what will or won’t be covered. When floods impacted central Texas recently, many docks and boats belonging to homeowners with properties on lakes were damaged or destroyed completely. Flood insurance, however, won't cover anything that's in the water. On the other hand, hurricanes may not have as much impact on other areas of your property. If the main floor of your house is above the flood zone, for example, you may have less to insure.
When it comes time for cleanup and repairs, a daunting process to be sure, it’s essential that you already have a strong network of local contacts and contractors on the scene to help. Think: Builders, landscapers, roofers, etc. While a property manager can help you triage and assess damage, they aren’t contractors and can’t do the heavy-lifting you’ll need after a major storm. If they are good they will, however, have a list of contractors and refer them to you. Still, following a real disaster, it’s “all hands on deck” and so support may be difficult to find or unavailable. Your damage assessment will determine how quickly you need to move. If you have structural damage, roof leaks or any issues with water, you'll want to act fast. If it's landscaping or cosmetic issues, you can move with less urgency.
There is no way to prevent hurricanes from happening, nor are there ways to avoid all destruction and loss from storms with Harvey- and Florence-like caliber. But homeowners can use this information to help them more capably manage the consequences of calamitous weather events.
