Florida Man Rebuilding | Energy Central

“Florida man plans to rebuild. And then build more.” The average altitude of Florida is 100 feet, though Miami averages about 4 ft. Much of the destruction by ‘Hurricanes [Debby in August], Helene and Milton in Florida was greatly amplified by the effects of climate change—as much as half the damage can be attributed to accelerating warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions.’ In Pinellas County, with a population of a million, “where St. Petersburg sits along the Gulf Coast west of Tampa Bay, nearly 41,000 homes were damaged by Helene and Milton, and about 170,000 people applied for help from FEMA.” The longer-term perspective is not the task of rebuilding [should they choose to do so] but rather that the cost of owning a house is climbing at the same time the value of that house is sinking. “You can’t move an economic muscle without insurance: you can’t drive a car, hire an employee, serve a client, or finance the purchase of a home without an insurance policy in place.” But investor-owned insurance companies are ‘repricing and leaving Florida.’ Now the largest insurance concern in the state is Florida’s state insurer-of-last-resort, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, offering ‘narrow coverage, high premiums and deductibles, and pulsing with insolvency risk.’ Citizens is the leader by far among all state insurers-of-last-resort, accounting for about 69% of direct premiums collected and 53% of all policies written by state residual plans across the United States (AM Best). But note that ‘the insurer didn’t pay a nickel in response to 77% of the claims that followed early August’s Hurricane Debby, probably because of Citizen’s high annual deductible and because its policies don’t cover flood damage.’ Home prices “in St. Petersburg are 2.6% lower this year than last year, homes are sitting on the market longer, and nearly 40% of list prices for houses have to be lowered in order for sellers to find a buyer (Redfin). Damage from the deteriorating climate will clearly be construed first as an economic disaster. Note the graphic.