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By Max Dorfman, Analysis Author, Triple-I
Houses with extra trendy roofs have been capable of keep away from important injury from Hurricane Ian, in contrast with these with older roofs, based on a current research by the Federal Emergency Administration Company (FEMA).
Of the 200 properties surveyed, 90 % with roofs put in earlier than 2015 had roof injury, versus 28 % for these put in after 2015, when Florida imposed new ordinances concerning how roofs are connected to homes and the way waterproof they should be. Certainly, when Hurricane Ian made landfall at Cayo Costa, a barrier island in Lee County, Fla., on Sept. 28, 2022, it broken 52,514 properties and different constructions within the space, inflicting an estimated $55 billion in insured losses in 2024 {dollars}.
A few of this injury, based on the info, may have been mitigated by up to date roofs.
Historical past tells the identical story
After the devastation of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Florida took the initiative to develop modern plans to stop hurricane injury. These modifications additional got here into impact in 2002, with a brand new concentrate on roofing. Nevertheless, there have been inconsistencies within the high quality of the roofing.
“The Nineteen Seventies-era properties carried out higher than a number of the post-2002 new constructing code properties due to the sealed roof deck,” Leslie Chapman-Henderson, president of the Federal Alliance for Secure Houses, advised The Miami Herald. “It was a nominal price (to bolster the roof) and a easy factor to do, but it surely made an enormous distinction.”
Now, with a renewed concentrate on metallic sheet roofs—which bear the brunt of storms extra resiliently than asphalt shingle roofs—FEMA’s information may drastically change the best way during which properties are constructed, and the way insurers are responding to fraudulent claims.
Insurance coverage scams set progress again
Insurers are compelled to lift the value of protection in hurricane-prone areas in Florida due to a rash of schemes to intentionally injury roofs to qualify them for insurance coverage claims, a persisting pattern.
“Fraud drives insurance coverage charges up and harms all Florida policyholders,” Residents Property Insurance coverage CEO Tim Cerio stated. Nonetheless, implementing the modifications instructed by the FEMA research could assist alleviate a number of the issues posed by insurers—and assist owners.
“Once you’re a house and evaluating its capability to outlive a hurricane, the well being of the roof is the primary query to ask,” stated Chapman-Henderson. “It not solely will increase your efficiency within the hurricane itself, however within the present setting it may well assist prevent cash in your insurance coverage.”
Study Extra:
Lawsuits Threaten to Swell Hurricane Ian’s Pricetag
Triple-I Points Transient: Hurricanes
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