Hurricanes can cause catastrophic damage, leaving many without a home or possessions. The process of rebuilding is often long, and difficult, and takes a huge emotional and financial toll on those affected. This article will examine some of the key challenges faced when rebuilding after a hurricane.
Assessing the Damage
After a hurricane passes, the first challenge is assessing the extent of the damage. Homes may be partially or completely destroyed by high winds and flooding. Roofs may be torn off, windows shattered, and walls collapsed. Belongings are likely ruined by flood waters that fill homes with contaminated water full of debris. Furniture, appliances, clothes, family heirlooms, and more are often unsalvageable after sitting in foul flood waters. Vehicles parked in garages also often sustain damage from water and debris.
Initial insurance claims must be filed quickly, even if the full scope of damage is not yet known. Homeowners face the daunting task of painstakingly cataloging every damaged or destroyed item in their home, often without having any receipts or proof of ownership left. Pictures and whatever receipts they can gather help document destroyed possessions and property.
Finding Temporary Housing
Most hurricane victims are displaced from their homes for many months or even over a year while rebuilding takes place. Finding temporary housing options is difficult when entire communities are displaced all at once. Living cramped in a small rental apartment or hotel room is extremely difficult, especially for large families. The process of securing short-term housing, navigating insurance claims, finding reputable contractors, and starting repairs can be enormously frustrating.
Dealing with Insurance
Navigating the intricacies of complex insurance claims is often complicated and confusing after major hurricane damage. There are often delays in getting settlements as insurance companies are inundated with claims in the aftermath of widespread destruction. Homeowners need to carefully read policies, document every item lost, get multiple repair estimates, and provide endless paperwork to insurance providers. Additional living expense (ALE) coverage is supposed to pay for temporary housing, but reimbursement is often slow and inadequate. Fighting with insurance providers over proper settlements adds more stress during an already traumatic situation.
Finding Contractors for Repairs
With massive destruction to entire communities, there is huge demand and a limited supply of reputable, affordable contractors to repair and rebuild damaged homes. Even when insured for losses, finding a general contractor to manage the rebuilding process can take months. Subcontractors like electricians, plumbers, and roofers are often overloaded with work and in short supply after disasters. Homeowners may need to vet dozens of contractors before finding one able to take on their project at a fair price. This leads to delays of months or longer before rebuilding work can even start. There are also risks of being defrauded by unscrupulous contractors looking to make a quick buck off of vulnerable disaster victims. Even when an honest contractor is found, the quality of work may suffer when demand exceeds supply.
Paying for Repairs
Even with insurance settlements, homeowners often incur very high out-of-pocket costs to fully repair hurricane damage. Insurance deductibles easily run into the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, and temporary housing costs add up quickly. Property damage often exceeds coverage maximums after a major disaster. Many families are forced to dig into savings and take out home equity loans or personal loans to cover the shortfall in rebuilding costs not fully compensated by insurance. The financial costs of repairs combined with the emotional toll of replacing all lost belongings are often crushing.
Rebuilding Takes Time
It typically takes a minimum of 6-12 months, if not years, for homes to be fully rebuilt and repaired after major hurricane destruction. Living displaced in cramped temporary accommodations, often far from jobs, schools, friends, and family, adds major stress and disruption. The many delays and frustrations with securing housing, fighting with insurance, finding contractors, and waiting months for work to start cause some to give up on rebuilding because it is just too hard. This prolonged displacement greatly affects employment, finances, mental health, family relationships, and education. Rebuilding after a disaster truly tests one’s endurance and perseverance.
Coping with Trauma
The trauma of surviving a life-threatening hurricane and losing one’s home and belongings can cause severe and lasting psychological effects. Anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and PTSD are unfortunately very common after living through the horrors of a hurricane and its aftermath. The long, drawn-out stress of rebuilding takes a major toll both mentally and emotionally. Counseling is often needed to help process grief over lost loved ones and possessions and to cope with the trauma of surviving a disaster. The sense of safety and security in one’s home is often lost after surviving hurricane destruction. Nightmares, flashbacks, hypervigilance, and uncontrollable anxiety are real possibilities for years after rebuilding.
Strain on Relationships
The numerous pressures, frustrations, grief, and trauma caused by rebuilding a life after hurricane destruction often severely strain personal relationships with spouses and loved ones. Displacement from homes, schools, and jobs puts people in an abnormal situation. Financial stress over making ends meet after a disaster causes strife. Grief and trauma can cause mental health issues that affect relationships. The strain of living in temporary lodging can be challenging. Major life decisions about rebuilding and relocating after a disaster often cause couples or families to clash and argue. Unfortunately, research shows rates of divorce, domestic violence, and child abuse increase significantly after major disasters such as hurricanes. The accumulated stress and challenges of rebuilding clearly damage close relationships.
Loss of Community
The community connections and support systems people relied on before the hurricane disaster are suddenly disrupted and lost. Friends, neighbors, and colleagues are forced to relocate to various temporary lodgings, often in different towns or even states. Favorite community places like libraries, churches, schools, and parks may be damaged or closed indefinitely. The shared experience of surviving disaster does create camaraderie and bonding between those rebuilding. But the normal web of community interactions that provide a sense of belonging, connection, and support is inevitably damaged and lost amidst the upheaval of rebuilding somewhere new. Reestablishing these critical community bonds and supports takes a great deal of time and effort.
Reconstructing a home, community, livelihood, and sense of security after surviving a catastrophic hurricane presents ongoing challenges for months or years. Insurance battles, displacement, shortage of affordable contractors, financial stress, trauma, strained relationships, and loss of community all commonly occur. Some days, the emotional and financial toll of rebuilding can seem endless. But the human spirit is remarkably resilient.
If you need legal help dealing with home insurers or contractors, please contact our law firm today. We’re here to help you receive fair compensation and pursue the resources you need to recover and rebuild your life after a hurricane disaster.
You can visit our office at 200 Lake Morton Drive, Suite 300, Lakeland, FL 33801 or call for a free consultation on (833) 941-7867.