Floridians Still Flooded 6 Months After Hurricane Ian

Read Time:4 Minute, 30 Second

(TNS) – More than six months after Hurricane Ian drenched the state with historic flooding, an unknown number of Central Floridians that could reach into the hundreds remain unable to return home, officials say.

According to FEMA, 143 households in Seminole, Orange, Osceola and Lake counties are still in housing provided by the agency’s Transitional Shelter Assistance program. The program was set to end last month but was extended through June.

“I do want to stress that this only represents a piece of the full scope,” FEMA spokeswoman Johanna Strickland wrote in an email. FEMA’s count only reflects people looking for housing assistance from the agency.

It doesn’t include people such as George and Victoria Pope in Orange County, who say they had to move out of their flood-damaged College Park condo in December.

Ian flooded the couple’s 3,200-square-foot home in September, said George Pope, 68, but the couple didn’t leave until a thorough inspection revealed how extensive the damage was.

“We had to wait until we could get on the list of the people doing mold remediation,” he said. “We were living in our condo with mold.”

The damage to the Pope’s home was estimated near $100,000, he said, with water having soaked under the hardwood floors and up the drywall throughout the condo.

Pope says his insurance company, United Property & Casualty, paid for a hotel for them in December, then moved him into a rental home in January. UPC sent a check for the first month’s rent, $2,600, but it bounced, according to Pope.

The check for February went through, Pope said, but shortly after that, he was informed the company was insolvent, the 10th insurance company in Florida to go into receivership in three years. The St. Petersburg -based company had announced in August that they planned to leave the Florida insurance market, as well as Texas and Louisiana.

Pope had received a check from the company for a little over $20,000 based on an earlier cost estimate, he said. In February, UPC terminated the claim, leaving Pope on the hook for the rest of it.

UPC did not reply to a request for comment for this story.

Pope, a plastic surgeon, said he wished more was done to hold the insurance companies accountable for leaving customers like him in the lurch. “I think it’s unfortunate that insurance companies seem to be able to do whatever they want,” he said.

The Popes said they applied for relief through FEMA but were denied initially because they had insurance. They say they are waiting on an appeal.

Across the state, Florida’s Division of Emergency Management says 682 people are still receiving state shelter assistance.

Around Central Florida, agencies working to restore homes are feeling the pinch of a labor shortage in construction.

“We have all the same problems as anyone trying to get their house remodeled,” said Alan Harris, emergency manager for Seminole County. “There’s supply-chain issues like there is with any construction now.”

According to a report from the trade organization Associated Builders and Contractors, the construction industry needs an additional 546,000 positions filled nationwide to meet current needs.

Nine households in Seminole are still in state-funded RVs while they await home or rental repairs, according to the county’s hurricane recovery dashboard. The website, which is updated in real-time, also shows 18 households staying in hotels courtesy of FEMA’s TSA program.

Seminole’s dashboard also shows 42 active “unmet needs,” which Harris says includes any necessary repairs a home may have that aren’t being covered by insurance. While the county shows 531 of these projects have been completed, Harris says new requests are still coming in.

“A lot of times it’s because their insurance company has finally said, ‘This is what we’re going to give you,’ and there’s a gap,” Harris said.

Orange County referred questions about residents still out of their homes to FEMA.

Jody Staley, executive director of the Greater Orlando Disaster Relief Network, said some people are discovering damage even months later. “People are finding out their homes are still under duress,” he said.

Repairs can range from minor damage to replacing burst septic tanks and fried electrical systems, according to Harris, though he said the size of the project doesn’t dictate its priority.

“Nothing is small for the person,” Harris said. “If a person can’t get out of their house because their wheelchair ramp was damaged, that’s huge for the person.”

As grants and relief funds begin to dry up, Staley says it’s time for communities to start recognizing the needs of local hurricane survivors. “What can the community itself provide for those that are affected?”

Staley said people should find volunteer opportunities “to make sure those people who are affected can feel seen, heard and validated by the community, that they’re not forgotten.”