How Hurricane Ian taught preparation lessons to a SWFL couple

There are so many things we weren’t ready for when Hurricane Ian hit, and all these months later, many of us still struggle.

Even when we think we’ve thought of everything, there are a lot of things we can’t plan for.

“I’m scheduled, set to retire in about seven or eight years, but now it doesn’t look like that will happen…” said homeowner Angela Brudos.

Stripped houses, ready to be rebuilt, are what many of us are accustomed to seeing.

By now, you probably expect this to be a setup to hear about an insurance problem but not this time.

“They (the insurance company) responded great,” said Brudos.

So, what’s the problem? To start, their first remediation company left the house soaking wet.

WINK News anchor Chris Cifatte asked Brudos if she got a second remediation company to come in.

“And they did a great job,” said Brudos.

Problem solved? Ready to rebuild? No.

“But then… as they started… like trimming some of the stuff… they started finding mold,” said Brudos.

This is where math starts to become a problem as well. The money to pay two remediation companies already jeopardized their plan to rebuild. Then, the next issue is drying up a lot of rebuilding dreams.

“Everything the news was talking about, you know, the 50/50 rule,” said Brudos.

The rule that says if you spend more than 50% of the value of your home to repair it, you have to bring it all up to code.

“We could elevate the house… or we can tear it down,” said Brudos.

More tough math: rebuilding would cost upwards of $300,000, which is too much, so they decided to elevate it.

“We got quotes that came up to about $178,000,” said Brudos.

Now they had a plan, an expensive one, but they decided to find the money to raise their house. They tried FEMA.

“FEMA, of course, weren’t any help because we had insurance,” said Brudos.

Then, they contacted the Small Business Administration for a disaster loan the previous November and then waited and waited.

“Up until July… we finally got the loan…” said Brudos.

So we’re good now right, and it’s time to rebuild? Again, no. The house still looks rough, and Brudos and her husband are still living in a camper out front.

“We don’t know how long they’re going to let us do that,” said Brudos.

At this point, with the loan all set, they should be ready to get that permit to elevate submitted to Cape Coral.

“And finally they said… they weren’t going to… they were going to reject it…” said Brudos.

So close, and that’s in the literal sense, considering the issue was the garage which wasn’t big enough to meet the current code.

Brudos said they were three to eight inches off from the code.

However, three to eight inches should be easy to simply add on, but by now you see the pattern here.

“That would bring us past where we were allowed to build…” said Brudos.

So at this point, earlier in December, that left Brudos’ family in pretty much the same place they started after Ian, except with less money and nowhere to go.

But Brudoes called and emailed everyone she could think of, including WINK News, and didn’t let up. Just when it looked like there were no other options, things changed.

“Now, since we were here last time… a lot has changed,” asked Ciffate.

“Oh, yes,” Brudos responded.

Her persistence paid off, and the house is being raised.

“And they’ve gone up three feet.. they’re gonna go up two more feet to five feet,” said Brudos.

They solved the garage problem by agreeing not to raise that part of the house since it’s unfinished. I’d love to tell you it’s smooth sailing from here, but…

“We’re still dealing with trying to get the funds from the SBA…” said Brudos.

Her mortgage company, who’s holding their insurance money, and the SBA are arguing over which funds should get used first.

Which was a new problem on this supposedly happy day. WINK News came back to watch the progress because the company raising the house was owed $76,000 that day.

“No, I don’t have it because the SBA is giving me a problem with getting my next distribution, so well, we’re still trying to find it,” said Brudos.

However, they got the money released with help from Congressman Byron Donalds’ office, and they have stairs outside and trim around the foundation.

In this case, a lot of hard work, persistence, and rattling every cage they could did work. It probably doesn’t mean they have enough money to finish everything they need, but they’re still working on that.