Hurricane Irma Florida Keys News

Florida Approves 6.6% Statewide Homeowners Rate Increase for Citizens

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has approved statewide rate increases on 2018 personal and commercial property insurance rates for Citizens Property Insurance Corp. OIR approved a statewide increase of 6.6 percent for homeowners multi-peril policies, but held rates …

Florida’s Hurricane Irma Recovery: The Cost, The Challenges, The Lessons

The hurricane season is officially over, but it didn’t go by without leaving a major mark on Florida and its insurance industry. Hurricane Irma, a name most in the state won’t soon forget, first hit the Florida Keys as a …

Mobile Home Communities in Florida Keys Face Uncertainty After Irma

Architect Kobi Karp has a vision for affordable housing in the Florida Keys: residences set at coconut-tree height to keep them dry, atop concrete columns holding them in place. Key West clients sought out his designs before Hurricane Irma struck …

Florida Keys Expected to Reopen to Visitors Oct. 1

Florida Keys officials say the island chain hit hard by Hurricane Irma will reopen to tourists Oct. 1. Officials made their announcement Monday, more than two weeks after the Category 4 storm made landfall in the Florida Keys. The storm …

FEMA: 25% of Florida Keys Homes Destroyed by Irma

With 25 percent of the homes in the Florida Keys feared destroyed, emergency workers Tuesday rushed to find Hurricane Irma’s victims – dead or alive – and deliver food and water to the stricken island chain. As crews labored to …

Florida Residents Return to Irma’s Battered Homes, Flooded Streets, Power Outages

Storm-shocked Floridians returned to shattered homes on Monday as the remnants of Hurricane Irma pushed inland, leaving more than half of all state residents without power and city streets underwater from Orlando and Jacksonville into coastal Georgia and South Carolina. …

Irma Update: Tropical Storm Exits Florida for Georgia After Flooding Cities, Cutting Utilities

Downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm, Irma flooded several northern Florida cities with heavy rain and a high storm surge on Monday as it headed out of the state after cutting power to millions and ripping roofs off …