Florida Homeowners Question Preparedness After Rare, Eye-opening Earthquake!
Florida, long associated with sunshine and sandy beaches, experienced a rare seismic rumble on Thursday, February 8th, 2024. A 4.0 magnitude earthquake struck about 101 miles off the coast of Cape Canaveral, sending tremors across the state and stirring conversations about earthquake preparedness and insurance coverage. While no significant damage was reported, the event has […]
Florida’s Property Insurance Crisis and You
Florida, like many coastal states, is facing a major property insurance crisis. In recent years, several factors have led to skyrocketing insurance rates and an exodus of insurers from the state. This has left many homeowners in a difficult position, struggling to find affordable coverage. One of the main drivers of the crisis is […]
Disaster Smart Consulting earned an 8th Annual FORTIFIED Volume Award!
On Monday, May 1, 2023 the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) hosted the 8th Annual FORTIFIED Awards in Daphne, AL. In the morning, IBHS celebrated 50,000 FORTIFIED designations at an event alongside local leaders and FORTIFIED service providers, which demonstrated how entire communities are becoming more resilient. Then, in the evening […]
Spring Storms Can Mean Devastation for Non-FORTIFIED™ Property
In the Coastal US, Spring is not only a time for warm weather and beautiful flowers, but heavy storms, that can produce tornadoes and hurricanes. Tornadoes and hurricanes are two of the most destructive natural disasters in the world. They can cause widespread damage to homes, businesses, and infrastructure. Properties that are not built to […]
Wind & Flood: How to Prepare for the Worst
Per NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “Damage from severe thunderstorm winds account for half of all severe reports in the lower 48 states and is more common than damage from tornadoes.” Whether you live on the coast or anywhere where it rains, you can be impacted by heavy winds and flooding. […]
What to Expect When Your Insurance Company Orders an Inspection
Whether you’ve put in an offer/ just purchased a home, renewed a policy for a home you’ve had for 10 years, or switched insurance carriers, chances are that you’ll be required to obtain an insurance underwriting inspection. But, what’s an insurance underwriting inspection, you ask? Well, it differs from a property inspection, which you […]
Impact Glass: What it is, How to Identify It, & How It Can Help You
Living on the coast has many advantages, spectacular views, a variety of outdoor activities, and high-value properties just to name a few, but every coin has 2-sides, and one of the major disadvantages is the frequency and sometimes unpredictability of tropical storms and hurricanes. With the ever-present threat of severe weather, the question of “how […]
Answers to the Question of: What’s a Four-Point Inspection?
Why it Came to Be In the early morning hours of August 24th, 1992, Hurricane Andrew, a devastating Category 5 storm, struck land off the eastern coast of Florida’s Peninsula, destroying more than 125,000 homes, and causing the death of more than 60 people. Insurance companies knew that the high-wind storm would result in […]
Supporting the 2022 National Disaster Resilience Conference (NDRC22)
2022 National Disaster Resilience Conference (NDRC22) Presented by the nonprofit Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH) Partnership National Disaster Resilience Conference – the premier conference for peer-to-peer networking and knowledge sharing for disaster resilience leaders. Who’s Who at NDRC? Every year, the NDRC brings together a strong array of leaders, including presenters and attendees […]
Alabama Condos Recognized with Highest Resiliency Certification by IBHS
“With over 7,000 FORTIFIED homes in Alabama and now the first-ever FORTIFIED Commercial-Hurricane Gold designation is also earned in Alabama.” The Colonial Inn Condominiums have earned the first-ever FORTIFIED Commercial–Hurricane Gold designation in the U.S. By Symone Garvett In order to improve resiliency for a new coastal Alabama complex, developers of the Colonial Inn Condominiums […]
Travelers Fortifies Communities
“Travelers Insurance joined forces with Habitat for Humanity and Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) to build affordable, wind-resistant, FORTIFIED homes in coastal regions of the country. Read this article to better understand the few important changes they made while only adding four to five percent, on average, to the total construction coast.” […]
Renovations for a more hurricane-resistant home
“Here is another news story by our local station, NBC 15, on how to strengthen existing homes to FORTIFIED standard. This is something every homeowner should look into as it also saves money on your homeowners insurance policy.” For more details ….
