Post-Debby damage creates insurance issues, costing Bay Area residents tens of thousands

SARASOTA, Fla. - Neighborhoods impacted by flooding after Debby are just starting to make sense of the damage, with floodwaters finally out of their homes.

In some neighborhoods in Sarasota and Manatee counties, every home saw feet of water, and many people are without flood insurance because they believed they were not in a flood zone. Now insurance experts are warning: if you live anywhere in this state, you need it.

Daniele Mion-Bet lives in Laurel Meadows, a neighborhood in Sarasota devastated by floodwaters where every single home was filled with feet of water.

He walked us through his home and now the water is gone, and the impacts are evident.

"We’re pretty much going to start cutting a horizontal line across the entire house," explained Mion-Bet.

He says not only will this take months or years to recover from this, but it’s a huge financial burden.

"I think about 90-95 percent of the community has no flood insurance talking to neighbors." he shared. "And obviously this is not a 10 or $20,000 cleanup especially nowadays with inflation. When they tell us you don’t have to worry about flood insurance because you are in a 500 year, 0.2% flood area, and now I have to do it because I should have."

READ: Laurel Meadows residents continue questioning why they flooded as waters begin receding

We spoke with the former insurance commissioner about all the Floridians who are now on the hook for these repair costs.

"This is a cold, hard reality. The time to find out that you don't have flood insurance is not after the storm. And property insurance policies clearly label across the front of their policy. This policy does not cover flood," said Lisa Miller, former insurance commissioner. "So my advice is that if your driver's license says Florida, you live in a flood zone."

"We're just doing what we can to save money because this is not cheap. And apparently, flood insurance is helping people out 'x' amount, and this is not 'x' amount of damage," said Mion-Bet.

He says he may pay for insurance, but it’s money they don’t have right now.

"It's something that now I need to consider which is now more money wasted and increases the cost of living in this city," said Mion-Bet. "I'm exhausted and this is just the beginning."

As we know, Debby was the first of what scientists predict will be a busy and dangerous storm season with worse hurricanes to come our way.

The former insurance commissioner says call your insurance agent tomorrow. If you’re in a low flood zone, it could be much cheaper.

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