Earlfor

[dpep]

I assume the insurance decision is only if you own the house outright. I don't believe any home lender that's using the home for collateral is gonna let it go uninsured.

or are you referring to another policy for just flood insurance ?

Correct, if you still have a mortgage you have no choice in the matter. Some lenders require both. All do for houses in flood zones. As you have no doubt read many companies are abandoning the state altogether. The home insurance situation is chaotic here but our Governor and legislature always seem to have other matters they prefer to deal with.

[dpep]

Glad you made it out Earl...dogs et al, hopefully...

Yes, wife and dogs are safe and unharmed as well.

[GregT]

Very sorry to hear of Earl's plight. I wish him the best of luck and a speedy resolution.

Where i used to live was hit by flooding a couple of times - but nowhere near that deep.
Most affected houses could be reclaimed by stripping back to studs and redoing the wall coverings.
But in most cases the water dropped inside a couple of days.

In his position I'd be tempted to find an RV and become a grey nomad.

[argonsagas]

Very sorry to hear of Earl's plight. I wish him the best of luck and a speedy resolution.

Where i used to live was hit by flooding a couple of times - but nowhere near that deep.
Most affected houses could be reclaimed by stripping back to studs and redoing the wall coverings.
But in most cases the water dropped inside a couple of days.

In his position I'd be tempted to find an RV and become a grey nomad.

Those are my major concerns, as well.
I do home repair and renovations and have seen water damage from basement flooding as well as plumbing leaks on upper floors (almost all our houses up here have basements) ....but 14 feet of water means almost the house was not just flooded but literally submerged in water. for two weeks already and still counting..

That is far outside my experience. but problems caused by lesser water levels have shown how much damage water can cause.

Stripping and removing all wall coverings, as well as any insulation, will be a start. The mould is a significant concern, to be sure, but it is not the sole concern.

The extent of damage cannot be seen yet but being submerged for so long means wiring and joint problems are probable.
The house will require careful inspection before any remedial work can be done.

.

[Vmass]

Those are my major concerns, as well.
I do home repair and renovations and have seen water damage from basement flooding as well as plumbing leaks on upper floors (almost all our houses up here have basements) ....but 14 feet of water means almost the house was not just flooded but literally submerged in water. for two weeks already and still counting..

That is far outside my experience. but problems caused by lesser water levels have shown how much damage water can cause.

Stripping and removing all wall coverings, as well as any insulation, will be a start. The mould is a significant concern, to be sure, but it is not the sole concern.

The extent of damage cannot be seen yet but being submerged for so long means wiring and joint problems are probable.
The house will require careful inspection before any remedial work can be done.

.

Most homes in FL are built
on slabs and are single level. If my math is correct, 14’ of water would almost get you to the roof’s peak.

[bccap]

Most homes in FL are built
on slabs and are single level. If my math is correct, 14’ of water would almost get you to the roof’s peak.

Yeah it is amazing what rain can do. I was thinking about Earl when the hurricane hit and followed the rainfall stats. Earl is 50 miles north of Tampa so I followed their numbers. I knew it was going to be bad as Tampa had 12 inches over 24 hours .{ including 4 inches in one hour. The last time I saw rain that hard I was in India during a monsoon } .....Way worse than the last time Earl had to sandbag ....

[Nessism]

A tragic situation. So sorry to Earl and others facing near total loss. And fixing the house may not even be worth it, if the area is so prone to flooding.

This event has triggered my own fear of "the big one" (earthquake). Only 13% of the homeowners in California have earthquake insurance. And sooner or later, we are going to get hit. Only good thing, in a case like mine, the dirt upon which my home sits is worth about 75% of the total value. For Earl? Even the land may be lost?

[Vmass]

A tragic situation. So sorry to Earl and others facing near total loss. And fixing the house may not even be worth it, if the area is so prone to flooding.

This event has triggered my own fear of "the big one" (earthquake). Only 13% of the homeowners in California have earthquake insurance. And sooner or later, we are going to get hit. Only good thing, in a case like mine, the dirt upon which my home sits is worth about 75% of the total value. For Earl? Even the land may be lost?

I would be all over earthquake insurance, especially if I avoided it and won for many years!

Isn’t it only about 3k a year for 1M coverage?

[GregT]

A tragic situation. So sorry to Earl and others facing near total loss. And fixing the house may not even be worth it, if the area is so prone to flooding.

This event has triggered my own fear of "the big one" (earthquake). Only 13% of the homeowners in California have earthquake insurance. And sooner or later, we are going to get hit. Only good thing, in a case like mine, the dirt upon which my home sits is worth about 75% of the total value. For Earl? Even the land may be lost?

Been there. We were hit by a 7.2 in 2010. Not fun. When you take out house insurance here, a portion of it is automatically taken as the fee for Government run disaster insurance.
Some fire and flood events can qualify but it's mainly for quakes.
Our place at the time was a historic wooden homestead built 1890. From memory when it was all settled, we paid about $5000 excess on a repairs claim which came up a whisker
short of the $115000 ceiling. If initial estimates are above the set ceiling, the house is a rebuild.
There are large areas of Christchurch which were red zoned for rebuilding purposes. Owners got a Govenment buyout at current valuation. Christchurch got large areas of
parkland.
I don't like your chances of getting any form of Govt buyout post a quake. The US can't even provide a free public health system let alone something as "socialist" as this.

[salty_monk]

Yeah the Quake policies here are government backed but always 10% or 20% excess..... You don't need $1m coverage because you can't cover the land. You need building rebuild plus the rider than brings it up to current code & allows for disaster level construction price rises.

Sorry to hear Earl's news, the pics he posted before were horrific enough to me! This sounds crazy. Most Single story houses are 14-16ft tall so yep he'd have been over the eaves and into the attic.
Glad they all got away!

[earlfor]

Finnally got a connection to get here! not a very good though, sooooslow.

[earlfor]

Thanks everyone for the good wishes! Wife and pups came through without a scratch, few bruises though lol.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Great to hear from you, Earl. Sorry for everything you're going through. Keep us posted.

[earlfor]

Keeping it short because I loose a connection frequently and loose anything i have typed. House is a total loss. i won't be returnng to it to live there.
i'm done with sitting on the edge of my chair for 6 months every year waiting to see if todays storm is the one to flood me out. 18 years of that, i'm done.

[GS1150Pilot]

Where may you go now, Earl? Still Florida?