Hurricane Helene strengthened again Thursday morning, and it is now a Category 3 hurricane having maximum sustained winds of 120 mph.
Both the storm’s magnitude and severity are increasing.
With a potentially fatal storm surge, it is predicted to make landfall in the Florida Big Bend tonight as a powerful hurricane in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
A 13-year-old boy was crushed inside his home on Monday after a tree fell onto his residence around 8 a.m. in Fanning Springs, Florida.
No other injuries were reported.
Our hearts go out to this child’s family.
State officials are urging Florida residents to check their insurance policies as Florida is projected to have an active hurricane season.
Officials have approved insurance companies offering a 0% rate increase, and some that have even decreased their rates. Officials are also keeping a close watch to make sure insurance providers are fulfilling their obligations – they recently fined a company $1,000,000 for mishandling Hurricane Ian’s claims.
Reviewing your insurance policy before a hurricane makes landfall is not just a good idea—it is a necessity. By understanding your coverage, checking for gaps, and updating your policy as needed, you can protect your home and family from the financial devastation that a hurricane can cause. Take the time to review and adjust your insurance policy now if needed, so that you are not panicking after a storm.
The Atlantic hurricane season is expected to be active again this year, according to Colorado State University researchers’ preseason projection, which was released Thursday morning.
Researchers think the Atlantic will be as lively as ever because of several characteristics highlighted in the report, which was presented at the National Tropical Weather Conference in Texas.
This season, 23 named storms are predicted. Of those 23 storms, 11 are predicted to intensify into hurricanes, and 5 of them are predicted to achieve major hurricane status, meaning their winds will reach 111 mph or more.
Colorado State University has never released a preseason forecast this aggressive. Since their first April projections started in 1995, CSU has forecast multiple times, and the previous record for the highest preseason forecast called for nine hurricanes in a season.
The main contributing reason to this year’s storm projection, according to the experts, is the historically warm sea surface temperatures in the eastern and tropical Atlantic.
There are 21 names on the Atlantic Hurricane Season roster. Colorado State University has predicted that the season would run out of names by November 30th. If that happens, the basin will be moved to a secondary name list for the first time since its inception in 2021. Prior to 2021, any storms that arose after the 21st were sorted by the Greek alphabet. There have only been two instances of this happening in history: in 2005 and 2020.
Overall, CSU projects that this year’s storm activity in the Atlantic basin will be roughly 170% more than that of a normal season. Hurricane activity in the Atlantic basin was approximately 120% of the typical season last year.
Updates to Colorado State’s seasonal forecast will be released on June 11, July 9, and August 6.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. Now is an excellent time to consider your options for hurricane preparedness. When the next hurricane or tropical storm decides to make landfall in Florida, be sure that your property is safe.
Here are some tips for preparing for hurricane season:
Seek Legal Counsel When Disputes Arise
Today’s cold front will bring with it a line of potentially severe thunderstorms.
Essential Information
The Atlantic hurricane season of 2023 has come to an end. This season, with 20 named storms, will rank as the fourth busiest since 1950. 2023 saw record-warm Atlantic sea surface temperatures and significant El Niño-influenced activity.
Of the 20 storms that were named during this year’s hurricane season, seven developed into hurricanes. Three became powerful hurricanes.
Just one of the three named storms that made landfall in the United States was a hurricane – Hurricane Idalia. On August 30, the hurricane made landfall near Keaton Beach, Florida, with maximum winds of 125 mph, classified as a Category 3.
Harold and Ophelia were the other two named storms to make landfall in the United States. On August 22, Tropical Storm Harold touched down on Padre Island, Texas, bringing torrential downpours over northern Mexico and South Texas.
On September 23, Tropical Storm Ophelia made landfall close to Emerald Isle, North Carolina, bringing severe winds, a substantial storm surge, and river flooding to eastern North Carolina.
On September 16, Hurricane Lee became a post-tropical storm before hitting land in Nova Scotia, Canada. It caused severe surf and rip currents to the entire U.S. Atlantic coast, and hurricane-force winds to Maine and the Canadian Maritimes.
A metric called accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) is used to quantify the activity of both individual tropical cyclones and entire seasons of storms. More details about it are available here.
Activity this season has been above average, most likely due to record-warm sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic. This year’s severe El Niño was counterbalanced by the warm water temperatures.
Historically, El Niño conditions have suppressed tropical activity by influencing upper-level winds in the Atlantic basin. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Atlantic basin produced the most named storms in 2023 than any other El Niño-influenced year on record.
The names that were in use in 2023 are listed here. In 2029, this list—aside from any names that are retired—will be utilized again.
Residents of Florida have always experienced severe disruptions from hurricanes, but in 2023 and the upcoming years, there could be even greater risks. The state is likely to continue to see an increase in storm activity, bigger hurricanes, and persistent winds and rain. It is critical to be equipped to withstand any storm.
Be aware of the possibility of increasingly severe hurricane seasons, and share this information with your local friends and neighbors to develop relationships and remain safe. When it comes time to file a lawsuit for personal injury or wrongful death, or to settle an insurance claim, be ready to contact an experienced hurricane lawyer.
Your chances of speeding up your recovery after the storm are stronger the sooner you get legal representation. With multiple locations in Florida — from Gainesville to Miami — our Florida Hurricane and Storm Damage Attorneys at Whittel & Melton are ready to help you recover after a storm. We have the expertise to assist you in obtaining what you are legally entitled to, regardless of whether you are facing severe property damage, severe injuries, or the tragic aftermath of a fatality. Continue reading
Hurricane Idalia ripped through Florida as a Major Hurricane. Using the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, the National Hurricane Center defines a hurricane as “Major” if sustained winds are over 110 miles per hour, which is considered Category 3 and above on the scale.
The severe storm made landfall on Wednesday morning, August 30, 2023 in the Big Bend of Florida’s gulf coast, over Keaton Beach, with maximum sustained winds of 125 miles per hour, just before 8 a.m. ET after having briefly strengthened to Category 4.
Idalia moved across northern Florida toward Georgia and was downgraded to a tropical storm Wednesday afternoon. It continued up the Atlantic Coast on Wednesday night to South Carolina and North Carolina.
You may be wondering where to start when you have come back to your home or business after the storms and find yourself left with massive property damage and destruction. Should you go on to your insurance provider’s website and submit an online claim?
The answer is YES! This is a great idea because you want to submit your claim in a timely manner. However, just because you submit an online claim does not mean you can blindly trust that the insurance company will not try and play games with your submission. What do we mean by that?
The main thing to understand is that these websites are created for these insurance claims to come in, as well as a means for the insurance company to control what they do and do not know/what they were and were not notified of. So, what should you do?
Once you submit your online claim, you should immediately follow that up with an email. When writing your follow up email to the carrier, after submitting your claim, be sure answer these questions.
The point of doing this is to have an email memorializing what you did on their website because you have no way of knowing if your insurance provider will try and say they never received your claim. You have no idea how many times we have seen when people submit a claim and never here anything back. They hire us later and we communicate with the insurance company only to find that they say this is the first time they have heard anything about the claim in question. This can change the prospects for your financial recovery based on dates, statutes of limitations, and all sorts of other things.
With all this said, it is absolutely a great idea to use your insurance company’s website to submit an online claim. Just make sure you memorialize it with an email that follows up with exactly what you did. You can even screen shot a picture of the website submission form before you submit it, so that you can show further proof of your claim submission.
As Hurricane Idalia makes its way through Florida, already causing flooding in some coastal areas, parts of the State’s Gulf Coast are expected to see deadly storm surge that officials are describing as non-survivable.
In addition, a tornado watch is also in effect for central and western Florida, including the Tampa Bay area, until 6 a.m. Wednesday. Tornadoes are frequently connected with the outer bands of tropical systems that make landfall.
Idalia is anticipated to strengthen to a Category 3 hurricane before reaching the Big Bend region, which contains Taylor County and is located just southeast of the state capital, Tallahassee. Idalia will bring strong gusts and a storm surge of 10 to 15 feet to the area, which is enough water stacked to reach halfway up an average building’s second level.
Evacuation orders are mandatory in at least 28 counties. You can view them here.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration identifies storm surge as the reason for most storm evacuations and the cause for about half of all hurricane-related fatalities.
If you are in an evacuation zone, our Florida Hurricane and Storm Damage Lawyers at Whittel & Melton urge you to get to safety. Remember, you do not have to leave the State – sometimes you just need to travel tens of miles (not hundreds) to get to a safer spot.
After Idalia hits, and you can make it safely back to your home, assessing the damage is an important task. We have a few tips that can make filing an insurance claim less stressful.
Fully evaluate your losses: The goal of insurance is to compensate you for your actual losses. Making a thorough record of your losses, complete with images, estimated values, purchase dates, and information on the damage sustained, will help to support your claim.
The 2023 Atlantic hurricane season is nearing, and we are just under 65 days from the official start date of June 1.
Here are the changes and what you need to know for the 2023 hurricane season:
At the end of every hurricane season, the NHC and World Meteorological Organization review how the previous season went and identify what worked, what did not work, and what can be changed to improve the next season so that all communications regarding hurricanes and tropical storms are accurate and straightforward.
The fresh changes for this year should break things down in the best way for the public to stay informed and on top of inclement weather.
New 2023 Atlantic Hurricane Season Names
Once every hurricane season wraps, the World Meteorological Organization reviews what names will be retired and what new names will join the list as their replacements.
For 2023, we will use a list from 2017. That year, we saw three major storms: Irma, Maria, and Harvey. To replace these names that have been retired, the WMO has added Nigel, Margot, Harold, and Idalia.
Fun Fact: it is not at all uncommon to see the “I” name retired. Data from previous seasons shows that the WMO has replaced the “I” storm name the most out of any other letter. “I” storm names have been retired 12 times since 1954.
|
ARLENE |
HAROLD | OPHELIA |
| BRET | IDALIA | PHILIPPE |
| CINDY | JOSE | RINA |
| DON | KATIA | SEAN |
| EMILY | LEE | TAMMY |
| FRANKLIN | MARGOT | VINCE |
| GERT | NIGEL | WHITNEY |
Our Florida Hurricane and Tropical Storm Damage Insurance Claims Attorneys at Whittel & Melton urge you to start preparing for the 2023 hurricane season now.
Sit down with close friends/family and develop a plan for how you will stay in contact in the event of a dangerous storm and where you will go/what you will do. Keep a copy of this plan with your emergency supplies so you can refer to it should the time come to do so.
Make sure you look over your policies and ensure you have adequate coverage should a storm cause significant damage to your property. Continue reading
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