Insurance village helps homeowners at Fort Myers Beach hotel

People are getting the checks they need to rebuild after Hurricane Ian via insurance villages put together by the state, with Tuesday seeing one in Fort Myers Beach.

On Monday, you read Barry Shiflett’s story, which ended with the Punta Gorda man going home with far more money than he expected.

“I came here today with all of my documentation, and I’m walking out with four checks,” Shiflett said.

It inspired more people to go to Tuesday’s insurance village at Fort Myers Beach’s DiamondHead Beach Resort. Eighteen insurance companies helped out dozens of people with hundreds of stories to tell.

“We saw this on the news last night,” said John Lee. “And we came down hoping to get a check.”

“Got two checks issued today,” said Steve Johnson. “So, extremely successful.”

“I just got a check; they just cut me a check for the assessment that my association had levied,” said Mary-Rose Spalletta.

Spalletta’s story is a familiar one of struggling with an insurance claim.

“It had been denied because they said my damage was from water, not from wind,” Spalletta said. “But, all of a sudden, they realized that Hurricane Ian did have a bit of wind hidden in it.”

Florida is a unique state: As it is so susceptible to hurricanes, Florida insurance policies have a hurricane deductible. But coverage in Florida is for damage caused by wind, not for flooding.

“To have lived through this, almost a Category 5 hurricane, and then be told that your claim is not valid because there wasn’t wind damage, it was water… it would be laughable,” Spalletta said.

Luckily, Spalletta ended up laughing and smiling for a different reason. And she says Tuesday’s insurance village helped her ‘tremendously.”

“They were far more helpful than I thought they would be,” Spalletta said.