Latest news with #HurricaneIan
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Hurricane risk in Florida is escalating. Flood insurance is harder to get.
Dayna and Matt Fancher lost their home in Fort Myers Beach, Florida, to Hurricane Ian in 2022. One month into this year's hurricane season, the couple is still paying their home insurance policy — now twice as costly — while fighting the firm in court over their claim. The Fanchers, who have lived in their Fort Myers Beach home for almost three decades, said their home insurance provider paid them only a third of what it would cost to rebuild their home, and that adjusters repeatedly disputed their storm damage claims. In the end, the Fanchers say, they took out construction loans to be able to move back into their home. 'We have the same coverage that we had, we're paying double, and we didn't get the assistance that we needed,' Matt Fancher said. The Fanchers' predicament is just one of many linked to the insurance crisis in hurricane-prone Florida. Rates are sky-high and expected to continue rising as catastrophe claims surge and Floridians face few insurance options and increased scrutiny during underwriting. Since 2021, Florida has experienced four major hurricanes: Ian, Helene, Idalia and Milton, and premiums have climbed by nearly 30% statewide. Florida residents can now expect to pay almost $10,000 a year on average in premiums, making the state the most expensive place in the U.S. to buy homeowners insurance. In Fort Myers Beach, a small town on narrow Estero Island off Fort Myers, annual premiums jumped from about $9,000 to almost $14,000 from 2019 to 2024, according to data obtained by First Street Foundation, a climate risk modeling firm. In the wake of Hurricane Ian, Floridians filed more than half a million residential catastrophe claims, according to Florida's Office of Insurance Regulation. Up against an estimated $50 billion to $65 billion in insurance losses associated with Hurricane Ian, several homegrown Florida property insurers were declared insolvent, while major national insurers like Farmers announced they would pull back or no longer offer coverage in the state due to increased hurricane risk. Some legislative reforms have helped stabilize the market for insurance in Florida, according to Mark Friedlander, a spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute, an industry association for insurers. He said in 2024, the state saw the lowest average statewide premium increases in the country for home insurance and that more than a dozen new insurers had entered the market there. But hurricane risk in Florida is escalating as human-caused climate change warms the atmosphere and raises sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico. Hotter conditions are trapping moisture and fueling hurricane intensification, creating wetter, more powerful hurricanes that leave Florida increasingly vulnerable to storm damage. During Hurricane Helene, moisture trapped in the warming atmosphere increased extreme rainfall by 10%, bringing rainfall totals as high as 26.95 inches in parts of Florida. Jeremy Porter, a climate risk expert at First Street Foundation, says that rising insurance costs signal the deep impacts of climate change in west Florida, as communities like Fort Myers Beach grapple with recurring damage and costly recoveries. 'Over the last few decades, we haven't kept up with climate risk and quantified it properly in our risk modeling. Now, we're playing catch-up and it's driving up insurance rates very rapidly, and people are feeling that in their household budgets,' Porter said. With scarce options for home insurance, more and more Floridians have started buying insurance from Citizens Insurance Property Corp., Florida's not-for-profit state-backed insurer, and Porter says this rapid movement has also pushed up insurance costs. By 2055, Porter says home insurance premiums could rise by 213% in the Tampa metro area because of hurricane risk. Climate risks are also disrupting insurance markets in other parts of the country. In Sacramento, California, residents may face a 137% increase due to increased wildfire danger, for example. Porter said declining home prices in Florida could also affect home insurance rates and availability. When property values fall in places that are vulnerable to hurricanes or other extreme weather, insurers may interpret that decline as a warning sign of growing physical or market risk, leading to increased scrutiny during underwriting and potential spikes in premiums. According to Zillow data, home values in Fort Myers Beach are down about $200,000 from their pre-Ian prices, and about 86% of sales over the last year came in under list price, a general sign that sellers are having a difficult time offloading their properties. At its peak before Hurricane Ian, the average home value on Sanibel Island, a popular spot in Lee County for beach vacationers, was almost $1.3 million. Today, that value is $868,000, with 93% of all homes being sold under list price, according to Zillow. Joanne Klempner, who has lived part time in Fort Myers Beach since 2016, says that selling her home is not a financially viable option after spending so much on reconstruction post-Hurricane Ian. With little choice but to stay in Fort Myers Beach, Klempner said she worries about how climate change will affect the future of her community. 'At this point, we're in for the long haul because we have to be. I think whether people want to continue to invest in Fort Myers Beach is the bigger question,' Klempner said. 'When you don't have a hurricane for 30 years, the risk feels worth it to live in paradise. When you have three bad hurricanes within 18 months, it becomes questionable.' Jacki Liszak, the president and CEO of the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce, says that Fort Myers Beach is still a great place to live and visit, and that the community is investing in resilient architecture and building homes well above the flood line. 'The houses have to be built strong and they have to be built high,' Liszak said. 'I think that will help tremendously. People were already starting to come, and I think they will continue to come. People love this lifestyle. It's a beautiful part of the world.' This article was originally published on
Daily Mail
15-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Flesh-eating bacteria kill four in Florida after terrifying surge in infections... how to stay safe
Health officials have issued an urgent warning over deadly, flesh-eating bacteria spreading on beaches across the US. The Florida Department of Health announced this week that four residents have died from vibrio vulnificus, a flesh-eating bacteria found in coastal waters. Another nine cases have been confirmed this year, the department said. Last year, 82 cases and 19 deaths occurred in the state, which officials said is due to the impact of Hurricane Ian. Deaths this year occurred in Bay, Broward, Hillsborough and St Johns counties, all of which are found on the Florida coasts. No further information has been released about the victims. Vibrio vulnificus enters the body through even the smallest of scrapes, infiltrating the bloodstream. From there, it releases enzymes and toxins that break down proteins, fats and collagen, destroying skin and muscle tissue. It also evades the immune system's defenses while triggering a widespread inflammatory response that causes even more tissue damage. Reduced blood flow to the infected area worsens this damage, ultimately leading to the death of tissue beneath the skin. This results in amputations to try and cut away the infection or, in severe cases, death. Vibrio requires warm water to grow and proliferate, making the southern coasts prime breeding grounds. However, colder regions are becoming gradually more hospitable as ocean temperatures rise, attracting and nurturing colonies of the bacteria. Vibrio infections have been confirmed on the East coast, Alaska, the Baltic Sea, and Chile, which scientists now believe could be the next hotspots. The CDC has not issued an annual report on vibrio in the US since 2019, when 2,685 infections were reported. Previous reviews on East Coast states from 1988 through 2018 showed vibrio wound infections increased eightfold, from about 10 cases to more than 80 annually. Vibrio vulnificus can also infect a person who eats raw or undercooked shellfish, causing painful abdominal cramps and diarrhea, and, in cases where the bacteria enter the bloodstream, sepsis and death. The CDC estimates that 80,000 Americans are infected with vibrio every year, although there are only 1,200 to 2,000 confirmed cases annually, as it is often misdiagnosed. Vibriosis, the infection caused by the bacteria, is typically treated with antibiotics, specifically doxycycline and ceftazidime. Once the bacteria reach the bloodstream, the infection is fatal about 50 percent of the time. The threat from the insidious bacteria is only growing, scientists say. Sky-high seafood consumption around the world, using coastal waters for recreational activities, and the compounding effects of global climate change are setting humans up to see a marked increase in both reported cases and fatalities in the near future,' according to scientists from the UK and Spain. The vast majority of vibrio infections have occurred in Florida, tied to post-hurricane flooding, and Texas, largely due to fishing and oyster harvesting injuries, as well as Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The Florida Department of Health warned residents: 'Water and wounds do not mix. Do not enter the water if you have fresh cuts or scrapes.' Officials also urged people who are immunocompromised to wear protective footwear to prevent cuts or injuries on the beach.
Fast Company
09-07-2025
- Fast Company
How to turn crisis response into community trust
The University of Miami has turned 100 years of experience navigating high-stakes situations into a tested and trusted communications model—and the leadership team is ready to share what they've learned. Buckle up and bookmark this page for future reference—you never know when you might need it. Why it's important. Universities face events that can escalate quickly and without warning—from extreme weather and public health emergencies to campus safety incidents. Clear, timely communication during these moments is essential to protect the university community and maintain trust. The idea. You can't control the crisis, but you can control the communication. And in a crisis, your message is your leadership. The institutions that thrive are the ones that prepare, unify and speak with purpose—before, during, and after the storm. Here's how. University of Miami's plan works because it makes communications a core function of crisis response, not just an afterthought. Success takes: Unified messaging from a center-led comms model. Real-time coordination between emergency management and leadership. Social listening tools to surface sentiment and squash misinformation. Multichannel outreach, from internal dashboards to emergency texts to FAQ pages. A people-first mindset that values humility, empathy, and clarity in every message. An example. As Hurricane Ian approached Florida in 2022, leaders at the University of Miami didn't scramble; they activated a decisive plan. The result: Unified action, a faster response, and strengthened trust across the campus—and the community. Teams across departments used coordinated and pre-approved messaging to ensure clarity. Schools and colleges paused all non-crisis content and turned readers toward official updates. AI -supported listening tools flagged emerging misinformation and reader sentiment in real time. The result: Unified action, a faster response, and strengthened trust across the campus—and the community. What this means. Your response to a crisis should be more than a canned statement—it should be the result of collaboration, empathy, and thoughtful decision-making. Looking ahead. A disaster-prone world brings more frequent and more complex crises to higher education. University of Miami's crisis comms case study, built on its 100 years of history, sets a benchmark for industry leaders. The takeaway.
New York Times
25-06-2025
- General
- New York Times
In Florida, ‘Powerful Little Plants' That Protect From Big Storms
A curious trend is underway in Southwest Florida. Young red mangroves trees, some with nicknames like Rosie, Penelope and Dingle, are being adopted and raised in backyard gardens, at restaurant host stands, beside bank teller windows and in school classrooms throughout Sanibel Island and the Fort Myers area. Their purpose is an existential one for the state: to help buffer the fragile coastline from rising seas and increasingly ferocious storms. Mangroves, evolutionary marvels that can grow in coastal saltwater, are critical to life in Florida. They provide essential habitat for fish and wading birds, improve water quality and pull carbon from the atmosphere. They also stabilize shorelines from erosion and can reduce property damage during storms, which is of growing importance as climate change intensifies hurricanes. Last month, volunteers on Sanibel Island planted 500 red mangrove seedlings that had been nurtured by local residents over months, to help the community recover from recent storms. 'These are powerful little plants,' said Julie Weaver, a volunteer who lives on Sanibel Island near Clam Bayou where the planting took place. The empty shoreline where volunteers worked in May was previously a thick mangrove wetland, before Hurricane Ian devastated the Fort Myers area in 2022. The trees were wiped out by the storm, Florida's deadliest in decades. More hurricanes, like Milton and Helene in 2024, followed, worsening the damage and slowing recovery. Some of the volunteers planting seedlings at Clam Bayou were residents whose homes were damaged. Some mangroves on the island snapped like toothpicks, but still provided a buffer, said Dana Dettmar, an environmental biologist with the City of Sanibel. 'Even though the aboveground portion of the tree was gone, all the root systems were still intact,' she said. 'And so in that area it held our beach.' Mangroves can rebound naturally from storm damage. But the process is slow, especially when surviving trees are stressed and might not propagate. Planting as many sturdy seedlings as possible increases the odds of faster recovery, because not all of them will reach maturity. 'It's a numbers game when it comes to mangroves,' said Kealy Pfau, who leads volunteer programs for the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation. The foundation's Adopt-a-Mangrove program enlists volunteer 'mangrove mamas' and "propagule papas' to grow seedlings at their homes, schools and workplaces. This increases how many seedlings they have to plant, while also educating the community on the local importance of mangroves. The process starts in the summer when healthy red mangroves drop propagules, which look like green beans. Potted propagules cared for by Susan Lloyd, a volunteer. Photo by Susan Lloyd The propagules grow into seedlings and are collected, potted and put up for adoption in the community. In the spring, seedlings that are sturdy enough are returned and planted at restoration sites. Cheryl Day, a volunteer, described it as 'giving nature a good jumpstart.' This was her third year as a 'mangrove mama.' She has raised about 200 seedlings in the lush garden of her Fort Myers home. 'I'm a plant freak, so this is something I couldn't help but do,' Ms. Day said. Cassie Hill helped to care for a seedling at the Sanibel Recreation Center with children in the center's after-school program. Daniel Billheimer adopted a mangrove the day he reopened his restaurant, The Lighthouse Cafe of Sanibel Island, in a new Ian tore through the original building his family had operated for decades. He also lost his home in the storm. Neighbors rallied around him as he worked to reopen. He said caring for the seedling felt like a 'civic responsibility.' 'It's important for me to give back to the community that gave so much,' Mr. Billheimer said. Before Hurricane Ian, restoration focused on pockets of mangroves needing a boost. After the storm, many areas needed restoration. But with that need, the number of people wanting to participate also grew.'When we started to see some of those areas slowly start to come back with some green leaves, it was such a symbol of resilience that I think the community needed to see,' Ms. Pfau said. When Adopt-a-Mangrove started in 2020, 400 seedings were adopted. This past year, she said more than 1,000 were distributed across Lee County. Some volunteers named their seedlings and decorated their pots. Almost 70 percent of Sanibel, a barrier island, is protected as conservation land. Joel Caouette, an environmental biologist with the City of Sanibel, said the city looked for 'nature-based' solutions for living with storms, and had often partnered with the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation on the mangrove plantings, including this one at Clam Bayou. 'There's nothing we can do to stop the storm surge,' he said. 'So it's more about learning how to live and building a resilient landscape.' Another planting site at Woodring Road on Sanibel Island. At Clam Bayou, the Adopt-a-Mangrove seedlings were planted alongside about 1,000 more donated by two Florida companies that grow mangroves for need five to 10 years before they reach maturity and start reproducing. In 10 to 15 years, the trees could reach more than 10 feet tall. Scientists with S.C.C.F. will keep tabs on their growth and survival. Eric Milbrandt, a biologist and researcher with the organization, said conditions at the site were promising for many to make it. But anything could happen to them, he said, like future storms or 'being eaten by a rabbit.' Grace Pabalan, 16, said she planned to start an Adopt-a-Mangrove club at her Fort Myers school as part of her Girl Scout Gold Award project. 'It's really important that we get involved with our community and help protect the mangroves because they're protecting us,' Ms. Pabalan said.
Car and Driver
24-06-2025
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
The McLaren P1 Evo Is a Redesigned One-Off of the Iconic Hypercar
Frank Stephenson, the original designer of the McLaren P1, is revisiting his design to create a one-of-one McLaren P1 Evo. The car in question is being built from YouTuber Freddy "Tavarish" Hernandez's personal P1, which was flooded during Hurricane Ian in 2022. The P1 Evo will be Stephenson's return to the automotive industry after moving to other sectors in 2018. It's not like the McLaren P1 needed a redesign. The 903-hp hybrid hypercar already resembles something out of a George Lucas fever dream. But when disaster strikes and you're left with a million-plus-dollar hypercar that lost a water balloon fight to a hurricane, well, then a redesign might be your best course of action. Frank Stephenson Design Frank Stephenson Design That's where Frank Stephenson comes in. He's the original designer of the P1, along with a slew of other cars—ever heard of the Ferrari F430 or the Maserati MC12? After YouTuber Freddy "Tavarish" Hernadez's personal P1 was flooded in Hurricane Ian back in 2022, he reached out to Stephenson to redesign the wrecked hypercar. The pair has now teamed up to create what they're calling the McLaren P1 Evo—Stephenson's reimagination of his old design. The overall look of the car isn't a huge leap from the designer's first draft. The front lip is larger, and there's a new dorsal fin that starts on the lip, extends onto the hood, and continues back through the new roof scoop and giant shark fin at the rear. The redesign also adds vents to the front fenders, new doors, and some incredible-looking aerodisks on the wheels. Frank Stephenson Design Frank Stephenson Design According to Stephenson's website, the duo is targeting to make the P1 Evo the fastest P1 ever built. The whole project is planned to be documented on Tavarish's YouTube channel and marks Stephenson's return to the automotive world after several years away. Jack Fitzgerald Associate News Editor Jack Fitzgerald's love for cars stems from his as yet unshakable addiction to Formula 1. After a brief stint as a detailer for a local dealership group in college, he knew he needed a more permanent way to drive all the new cars he couldn't afford and decided to pursue a career in auto writing. By hounding his college professors at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he was able to travel Wisconsin seeking out stories in the auto world before landing his dream job at Car and Driver. His new goal is to delay the inevitable demise of his 2010 Volkswagen Golf. Read full bio
