Have You Really Received All The Money You Are Entitled to for Your Hurricane Ike Wind or Flood Claim?

Eight Common Misconceptions About Hurricane and Flood Insurance Settlements

I had broken windows and rain coming in through my roof. You can see water stains on my ceiling. But I also had flood water in my house and the insurance company or TWIA is saying that the flood caused most or all of my damage.

Wrong. As I said in item 6, it is a misconception that the storm surge came ashore before the high winds. With the high winds comes rain, which is sprayed all over the place by the high winds. Tests performed by experts after Hurricane Katrina show that if you have even one or two broken windows, the effect of the high wind and rain is like a person standing outside your home with a fire hose turned on spraying the inside of your home with gallons of rain water for hours. I have cases now where I intend to rely on this expert evidence to show that if there are any broken windows or evidence of water coming from above then the house was ruined by wind driven rain first and then the flood waters came in.

1. Once I have received a settlement from my insurance company I cannot re-open the claim.
   
   
2. On my flood claim I have to take what they offer me because it is FEMA and lawyers don’t want flood claims.
   
   
3. The insurance company or TWIA only owes me my actual damages and maybe my attorney fees for my damages.
   
   
4. I hired a public adjuster and he got me all the money I am going to get.
   
   
5. If I hire a lawyer to handle my windstorm claim he will take a fee and take some of the money that I need to fix my house.
   
   
6. I had a beach house on the Bolivar Peninsula that got blown away. TWIA has some report from experts that says that the storm surge came ashore first and destroyed my beach house and the high winds only did about 11% of the damage to my home. I guess 11% of the cost to replace the house is all I can get.
   
   
7. I had broken windows and rain coming in through my roof. You can see water stains on my ceiling. But I also had flood water in my house and the insurance company or TWIA is saying that the flood caused most or all of my damage.
   
   
8. I am only entitled to what it cost me to fix my house, but some of the work was done by me or friends or church groups and volunteers so I cannot get paid for that.