A Blog Post After the Night After

At 3:23 am, police cars stopped on my East Harbor Island Bridge. They were shining lights into the water on the windward side of the bridge and then quickly on the leeward side of the bridge. I was sipping the last of a 1966 vintage port after successfully preventing water from entering the first floor of my condominium. My unit is on the 10th floor and otherwise far away from the devastation that my family was suffering in other parts of Tampa Bay during Hurricane Helene on Thursday night. I gave a thumbs-up to the officers. Police reciprocated. It did not occur to me what they were looking for until the morning.

3:29 am. Congratulated friends for avoiding electrocution from interior wires after saying they were “shocked” before leaving their flooded home.

5:19 am, and the first calls came in on my stupid Apple watch. My mother warned me about Dick Tracey. People were calling and texting me about being safe and then asking me to let them know if I needed help with claims because they were the best. Is every estimator so desperate for work, and who is the best estimator?

6:07 am. Took Donice to show her how our Merlin Law beach towels and my exterior door tape saved us from having water enter the first floor of the condominium and avoid devastation. Told her how my wading through the water somehow avoided electrocution had saved the day. She asked how much was saved by delaying my eventual death and avoiding electrocution was the result of having a new insurance policy providing incentives for preserving insured property.

6:50 am. Coffee and the Day—hundreds of texts and emails wishing me safety.

7:03 am. Noticed people looking for boats that were no longer in slips by the apartment complex across from the bridge. Where did the boats go? Get cup for coffee.

7:10 am. Watched people go on apartment boat ramp looking for boats and looking and looking. Sipped coffee while thinking, “How did a dozen boat slips become vacant overnight during a hurricane?” Went to sleep.

8:05 am. Watch-called with Kim, my former wife, about flood insurance claim. Good talk about how to make claim and what policy declarations I needed to help.

8:17 am. Asked Donice to look at the boat slips across the street and asked where all the boats with empty slips could have gone. Did they sink? Thought about thoughts from 3:29 am.

Then received messages about CBS 60 Minutes calling for information prior to running a televised report this Sunday at 7:00 pm.

8:47 am. Calls from Austin about photos needed to be preserved regarding damage to her and my grandchildren’s home for flood coverage purposes.

9:00 am. Call with doctor about missing blood testing due to hurricane. Kidded with Doctor Price’s assistant about the brown water and why storm surge water was so black.

It is now 10:00 pm, and I have a few suggestions after being on hundreds of calls today.

Policyholders should watch out for social media scammers. One person lied about a public adjuster’s credentials, and that public adjuster told us that he would take Dallas-based attorneys’ contracts to us because ‘Chip Merlin runs a mill with a phone bank.’ I am going to report that fake public adjuster and lawyer to the Florida and Texas Bar and Office of Insurance Regulation.
Do not rely solely on social media recommendations when hiring professionals. Sadly, scammers have learned that using fraudulent “word of mouth” recommendations is the best way to win new clients, and are using this “word of mouth” scam on social media.
Do not pay or agree to pay for the entire construction project until it is done and approved by an architect, engineer, or certified owner’s representative. This one step stops most policyholders from becoming a claims victim.
Get the water and flood-damaged items removed from the structure and documented. Demonstrate you have mitigated future loss to damaged and undamaged property.
Document everything with photos and videotape. It should be of the damaged and undamaged property.
Notify the carrier about the loss.