Florida Property Damage Lawyer: Your Legal Rights when Wind Damages Your Home

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Florida is bar none one of the most picturesque, exciting, and inviting states to call home. With that said, the Sunshine State is also the target of some of the most devastating weather events imaginable. These include storms that produce high winds that can result in damage to your home. If you find yourself in a situation in which your home has sustained wind damage, you may also face the prospect of an insurance company that seems prepared to fight you when it comes to a claim for your very real losses. In such a situation, a Florida property damage lawyer from The Doan Law Firm at (800) 349-0000 stands ready to take on any mammoth insurance company for you.

We want to arm you with some basic facts about Florida residential wind damage. Weather events, including major hurricanes, result in a significant amount of damage every year to Florida homes just like your own.

Hurricanes Rip the State with Regularity

2020 is proving to be something of an exception when it comes to hurricanes impacting the state of Florida. While the 2020 hurricane season proved to be record setting on a number of fronts, the Sunshine State was largely spared major impacts from the major Atlantic and Gulf weather events. With that said, the high winds and flooding associated with hurricanes have wreaked significant damage on the state throughout history. Wind damage associated with hurricanes has resulted in billons of dollars in damages and losses to residential property in Florida through the years.

The ferocious winds of Hurricane Andrew remain the worst on record since data pertaining to windspeeds have been collected, beginning in 1851 with the so called Great Middle Florida storm that struck Panama City and neighboring environs. At its peak, the winds of Category 5 Andrew hit a remarkable 145 miles per hour.

Since Andrew, the wind speeds of hurricanes that have pummeled Florida have been less, although a couple fierce storms have come terribly close to the wind power associated with Andrew. Moreover, despite somewhat less windspeeds, each of the hurricanes that followed Andrew have borne winds that resulted in major damage to Florida homes and businesses.

A look at wind speeds through the years is illuminating:

• Andrew – 1992, Category 5, 145 miles per hour
• Opal – 1995, Category 3, 100 miles per hour
• Charley – 2004, Category 4, 130 miles per hour
• Ivan – 2004, Category 3, 105 miles per hour
• Jeanne – 2004, Category 3, 105 miles per hour
• Dennis – 2005, Category 3, 105 miles per hour
• Wilma – 2005, Category 3, 105 miles per hour
• Irma – 2017, Category 4, 115 miles per hour
• Michael – 2018, Category 5, 140 miles per hour
• Dorian – 2019, Category 4, 118 miles per hour

Damage Price Tags: Costs of Hurricanes

The costs associated with the damages caused by hurricanes is tremendous. Two factors play into the expenses from hurricanes annually: wind and water. A look at three recent years underscores how expensive recovering from hurricanes can be for home and business owners alike:

• 2017 – $265 billion
• 2018 – $49 billion
• 2019 – $22 billion

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, breaks down the extent of wind damage to a home to be expected, depending on the wind speeds associated with a particular storm:

• 74 to 95 miles per hour – some damage
• 96 to 110 miles per hour – extensive/major damage
• 111 to 129 miles per hour – devastating/major
• 130 to 156 miles per hour – catastrophic/severe
• 157+ miles per hour – catastrophic/destroyed

Florida Property Damage Lawyer: Protect Your Legal Rights when Wind Damages or Destroys Your Home

You can schedule an initial consultation and case evaluation with a Doan Law Firm Florida property damage lawyer right now by calling (800) 349-0000. Our Florida wind damage hotline is in operation 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We can arrange an initial consultation at any one of our Florida offices, at your home, or at your office. We can schedule a virtual appointment with you online as well. There is no charge for an initial consultation with one of our Florida property damage lawyers.

The Doan Law Firm makes an attorney fee promise. We will never charge an attorney fee unless we win your case for you.