BRADENTON, Fla. — After living in his Bradenton home for 20 years, Bryan Zoller is about to do a first.
“I’ve never made a claim before, so I’m really not sure how the process works,” he said.
Zoller’s home sits right across the street from the Manatee River.
On Thursday, Hurricane Helene brought the river inside.
“It was up about 6 inches or so,” he described from inside his kitchen.
Zoller is one of only about an estimated 20% of Florida homeowners with flood insurance.
Insurance insiders expect that number to jump, at least temporarily.
"After a storm, it always does," said Chad LaTour, a managing partner at Flood Risk Solutions, which specializes in flood insurance. “I think that this will be kind of an eye opener. We've had other eye openers, like Ian and Idalia, but this one has really hit the coast very hard. I think that people will start paying more attention and actually buy flood insurance."
LaTour believes mortgage lenders should require flood insurance, even in low-risk flood zones.
“An average of about 30% of those in low hazard areas suffer a flood loss. Those are the ones where the lender is not requiring it. So, do they wake up and realize that they're losing homes in these scenarios, or do they keep following what they've always done and just requiring it on high hazard,” he asked.
This year Citizens Property Insurance, the state-run insurer of last resort, started requiring policy holders in special hazard zones to buy flood insurance in addition to homeowner’s insurance. But since most flood insurance is backed by the federal government, forcing private insurers to do the same is unlikely.
“If I owned an insurance company and I said I’m going to require flood insurance when my competitors do not, that will probably put me at a competitive disadvantage. That's probably why you don't see private market insurance companies doing that,” explained Professor Chuck Nyce, head of the Risk Management and Insurance Department at Florida State University.
Nyce also said additional mandates would require a federal regulation change which would create a host of other challenges.
Back at Zoller’s home near the river, he said if flood insurance wouldn't have been required, he probably wouldn't have purchased it.
“I hate insurance,” he said.
But now that’s he’s got it and needs it, he’s hopeful that after 20 plus years his flood insurance may finally pay off.
“It's the one time where you're like, well, thank goodness I’ve got it. But it's kind of still up in the air whether they'll cover anything. I hope they will, they should. I've been paying for 25 years. But, yeah, I mean, it's good that I’ve got it,” he said.
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