As the weather improved, many people across the state of Florida were able to take advantage of the new Florida Flood Insurance Program.
The Florida Flood insurance program was designed to cover losses of more than $1 million from Hurricane Irma.
With a $10,000 deductible and a maximum of $1.5 million in total loss, the program offered a substantial financial boost to people who needed to cover the bill.
“The insurance companies can’t put that money back into the economy.
So they’re trying to save that money for other people,” said one Florida resident who is now receiving flood insurance from the Florida Flood Mutual Fund.
But not everyone was happy about the program.
“It’s a horrible program.
I’m a Floridian and I want to do everything I can to help people out,” said Robert Jones, a retiree who has lived in Miami for 25 years.
Jones said he and his wife had recently purchased a house in Miami Beach.
“We had no money, so we thought, ‘What can we do to help?’
We put money in, and now we’re in this.”
Jones said they had already used the flood insurance money to help their daughter pay for a car loan, and he hopes to use that money to cover his mortgage payments.
“If we can just get a little bit of that back into our economy, that would be a really big help,” he said.
Irma’s storm surge inundated parts of the Florida Keys and brought a flood warning to the state.
Many people, including many in Miami, were forced to evacuate as they feared a flood.
A number of homeowners in Miami and other parts of Florida have been forced to move their properties.
Florida Flood Emergency Manager Brad Haskins said he expects more homeowners to move as the weather worsens.
He said the Florida statewide emergency declaration of a severe storm could allow FEMA to take over more of the recovery work.
“This could be a massive, massive disaster that we’re going to have to handle in Miami,” Haskens said.
Florida Governor Rick Scott also said that he expects the state will need to spend billions more than the flood damage insurance funds, which are still in effect.
“The governor is calling for a $7 billion increase to the federal flood insurance program for the state,” Scott said.
“So we’re not going to go anywhere until we get that funded.”
