To Those Where Hurricane Irma Will Hit

[gaymer77]

You're free to come crash on my couch while you ride the storm out here in Cali. We just legalized weed so you have that to look forward to.

[Sunseeker]

The number of people I've talked to in Florida who are terrified of earthquakes in Cali astounds me.

[PACOX]

Hopefully it turns. FL is lucky in that there are some trade winds off the coast. Unfortunatly the storms that do make it threw end up being decent due to the Gulf Stream. We dodged a bullet last year with Hurricane Matthew, which still did a decent amount of damage without its eye wall making landfall (it was a cat 4 as it moved along the coast and was supposed to make complete landfall until the last minute). So hopefully it just curves away.

[Shinra1]

Global warming is real, America.

[Doctor Amadeus]

Yeah just when life handed some of these people a great big bag of shit, nature resets and prepares to deliver another one. Run if you can or take cover if you don't have time.

[Dextroden]

Stay safe and evacuate when told. Don't wait.

Some won't. Gulf people are notorious for riding it out.

[Fonduset]

As a Brit, we don't get hurricanes, we just get strong winds. I see on the news the mass devastation that the hurricanes leave. Mainly because of wooden houses. My question is. Does house insurance in America cover destruction of a house due to a hurricane? or are you actually left to rebuild out of your own pocket?

[Lahis]

As a Brit, we don't get hurricanes, we just get strong winds. I see on the news the mass devastation that the hurricanes leave. Mainly because of wooden houses. My question is. Does house insurance in America cover destruction of a house due to a hurricane? or are you actually left to rebuild out of your own pocket?

I'd imagine the hurricane on flood insurances in the risk zones are expensive as hell.

[KOMO1211]

As a Brit, we don't get hurricanes, we just get strong winds. I see on the news the mass devastation that the hurricanes leave. Mainly because of wooden houses. My question is. Does house insurance in America cover destruction of a house due to a hurricane? or are you actually left to rebuild out of your own pocket?

i would imagine any home owner on the gulf etc has to take out specific insurance against it. just like if your on a flood plain etc. not sure how much it really helps in recovery. if its like every other aspect of insurance in this country probably not a whole lot.

[Fonduset]

I'd imagine the hurricane on flood insurances in the risk zones are expensive as hell.

Yeh, mega expensive. Or just totally excluded. Makes me wonder why wooden houses are still built when they are more likely to just blow down than a brick house.

[Nfinitii]

It's still to far out to really worry about. It could end up turning and nothing will happen. I've lived in fl my whole life, it's just another hurricane. Stock up on food and water and hunker down.

[PACOX]

So its still a bit out there but this thing is a cat 4 before hitting that pocket of warm water in front of FL. Safe modelts have it going across S. FL into the Gulf, bad. A lot of predictive models have it going across the length of FL, bad but not the worse because the land will make short work of it.

These storms happen annually regardless but in the last 15 or so years we've seen an increased number of major storms per season on top of an increased number of them making landfall. Its rare for an Atlantic storm to hit cat 3, let alone hit cat 4 that far out. This might be an irreversible trend for some time. Remember Irma marks the beginning of the active period of hurricane season, theres 2 more storms forming. The one in the Atlantic is likely to veer north, the one in the Gulf...who knows.

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Yeh, mega expensive. Or just totally excluded. Makes me wonder why wooden houses are still built when they are more likely to just blow down than a brick house.

Most new building in FL are reinforced and have shutter mounts in place. By new I mean 20 years or so because I was very little when we started to see the reinforced homes go up. Its weird because a lot of people have newish roofs and shutter mounts due FEMA money when we got hit with 3 or so storms back to back years ago.

[Independent voter]

Most wooden houses can take up to a cat 3 pretty well, even a cat 4. It's the cat 5 hurricanes that destroy wooden houses and they're rare.

And even a masonry house will lose it's roof and all that rain will ruin everything inside.

[chazus]

Does house insurance in America cover destruction of a house due to a hurricane? or are you actually left to rebuild out of your own pocket?

It does not, by default. Most flood insurance is completely separate, and most people don't have it. Thats just for home -owners-. Anyone renting is pretty much pressing the reset button on life.

I'd imagine the hurricane on flood insurances in the risk zones are expensive as hell.

Yup. It is. Standard home insurance is like $800-1500 a year. Flood insurance is like an extra 4000-7000.

i would imagine any home owner on the gulf etc has to take out specific insurance against it.

They don't have to, and most don't. 10-20% of home owners are covered. Every time a hurricane comes through that area, thousand of peoples lives are pretty much just forfeit as far as livelihood.

It's sort of the reason people get so up in arms about government help (which doesn't help renters), insurance policies, etc. If you live in the hurricane area, its basically a gamble to own a home if you aren't very well off.

[Sky High]

apparently it's supposed to hit Virginia but I'm not worried, plus we got weed here too braj ha haaaaaaaa.

[chazus]

These storms happen annually regardless but in the last 15 or so years we've seen an increased number of major storms per season on top of an increased number of them making landfall. Its rare for an Atlantic storm to hit cat 3, let alone hit cat 4 that far out. This might be an irreversible trend for some time. Remember Irma marks the beginning of the active period of hurricane season, theres 2 more storms forming. The one in the Atlantic is likely to veer north, the one in the Gulf...who knows.

Not to get things off track about climate change, but this is largely one of the effects we're seeing of warming oceans. Even a half degree ocean temp change is literally a ridiculous amount of power. That power, heat, whatever, is being transferred into making these hurricanes. We aren't seeing more hurricanes, really. We're just seeing stronger, more powerful ones that are already there. And more of them making landfall.

[Unhinged]

I never understood why government ever allowed houses to be built in flood zones.

[Bathory]

I hope it goes cat6, but I'm guessing that's just sensationalism.

[chazus]

I hope it goes cat6, but I'm guessing that's just sensationalism.

It's literally impossible for it to be a Category 6.

[Theinquisition]

As a Brit, we don't get hurricanes, we just get strong winds. I see on the news the mass devastation that the hurricanes leave. Mainly because of wooden houses. My question is. Does house insurance in America cover destruction of a house due to a hurricane? or are you actually left to rebuild out of your own pocket?

Good question. Im in the insurance industry.

So, wind damage, fire, even theft during a hurricane may be covered, rain that comes in through a busted roof is coveted as well.

Flooding and storm surge are not. You may have some backup of sewer and drain coverage, but it typically doesn't count during a hurricane.

Most people in high flood areas are able to enroll in the NFIP, through y our local insurance agent. It's complicated and doesn't usually cover the full value of your home.