Hurricane Ian anniversary: What you need to know about insurance claims

Saturday will mark the two-year anniversary since Hurricane Ian hit Southwest Florida.

If you got hit hard by the storm, there’s something important you need to do this week.

Bob Goodman has a lot of experience with roof damage from a hurricane.

“My house is two stories, so I’m not getting on my roof,” said Goodman.

After Hurricane Irma, Goodman had to have his roof repaired. Everything seemed OK until: “I switched insurance carriers, and they sent an inspector out, and they noticed that my roof was severely damaged,” said Goodman.

Damage was especially around the chimney. Since it was close enough to Hurricane Irma, he picked up the phone.

“At that point, I made a claim with my insurance carrier,” said Goodman. “If you don’t file a claim by September 28, You’re done.”

That is just part of his expertise on the issue.

The rest is because he’s an attorney who represents people having trouble with insurance claims.

Hurricane Ian victims have two years to make or re-open claims for the damage.

That doesn’t mean the work has to be done.

It means you need to have notified your insurance company if there’s any new damage not in your claim, whether the claim is currently open or closed.

Goodman said to not let anyone push you to do anything else quickly.

“A lot of roofers that are going to come out are going to try to get you to sign a contract right away and tell you they’ll do it for insurance proceeds. I don’t recommend going that far. I recommend getting them to get on the roof, take pictures, acknowledge and submit the claim to the insurance company. Once you do that, as long as you do that, within your two years, you’ve preserved your right,” said Goodman.

There’s one area where you’ll have more time. It’s called a supplemental claim.

Let’s say you had the roof replaced but never looked in the attic to see if the wood rotted or if water got in over a longer period.

If you already got paid on the roof but see more work on something you’ve already claimed, you can supplement your claim for one more year.

These deadlines are for Hurricane Ian only. Under new state laws, you’ll have significantly less time if we have another storm.