Tallahassee, Atlanta Dodge a Bullet, But Thousands of Claims Are Expected

Hundreds of claims adjusters were set to move out across Florida, Georgia and western parts of the Carolinas Friday morning as Hurricane Helene brought high storm surge and 140 mph winds to a region that has faced three hurricanes in one year.

The overall wind damage from Helene may be significantly less than feared, after the eyewall moved to the east of the population centers of Tallahassee and Atlanta, sparing those cities from the strongest winds. Still, adjusting firms expected thousands of claims from property owners. They had begun deploying teams to command centers in the region by Thursday and were prepping independent adjusters for the deluge.

“Make contact with people, set up your inspections, then do the actual inspections,” Curtis Pilot with Pilot Catastrophe Services, one of the largest claims adjusting firms, said in a Zoom meeting with more than 300 adjusters Thursday night.

Insurance carriers, too, were planning to set up insurance villages and claims centers in some of the hardest-hit areas near the Big Bend stretch of Florida, insurance agents said.

“We dodged a big one,” said Larry Roberts, an insurance agent with McGinniss Himmel Insurance Agency in Tallahassee. “We’ve got our pine trees here, and we’re seeing some trees on homes, but mostly, we got real lucky.”

The storm came ashore about 11 p.m. Thursday near the mouth of the Aucilla River, southeast of Tallahassee, the Associated Press and other news outlets reported. The eye was just 20 miles from where Hurricane Idalia made landfall in August 2023, and about 50 miles from Steinhatchee, Florida, where the center of Hurricane Debby came ashore last month.

In Steinhatchee, several houses and mobile homes were floated off their foundations as waters rose through the night and caused some of the worst flooding in years, CNN reported. Cedar Key, also swamped in Idalia, was almost completely destroyed by the unusually high storm surge, ABC News reported.

Near Branford, Florida, about 80 miles southeast of Tallahassee, where some of the strongest winds were felt, producer Jeff Rush said he had heard from several policyholders. One farmer lost four poultry houses that had been converted to barns, said Rush, who is with the Odiorne Insurance Agency. Another client saw his carport torn down by the winds.

“There’s quite a bit of damage around here,” Rush said.

The area was hit just over a year ago by Idalia, and residents and agents are feeling a little bruised and battered.

“I guess we’re the new hurricane alley,” Rush said.

At least 20 deaths have been attributed to Helene. In south Georgia, two people were killed when a possible tornado struck a mobile home Thursday night in Wheeler County, the AP and New York Times reported. Wheeler County is about 70 miles southeast of Macon, Georgia.

The storm’s eastern eyewall passed near Valdosta, Georgia, a city of about 55,000 people, the AP reported. But storm surge and flooding were seen as far south as Naples, Florida, which suffered some damage from Hurricane Ian in 2022; and as far north as the Appalachians.

In Atlanta, at least 25 people were rescued from flooding, CNN noted. Wind-related damage, however, was minimal as the storm stayed east of the metropolis. Near Tampa, emergency crews made more than 100 water rescues in the area, due to the heavy storm surge, officials said.

Some 30,000 homes and businesses in the Carolinas lost power, and more than 1.2 million were without power in Florida, along with another 190,000 in Georgia and, poweroutage.us reported.

A few early reports had warned that the latest cyclone could be another major test for Florida’s battered property insurance industry, with insured losses projected to be as high as $6 billion. But Florida’s governor and the Insurance Information Institute’s Mark Friedlander said the industry is recovering and is prepared to handle the cost, according to news reports.

“We’re very lucky,” said Lisa Miller, a former deputy insurance commissioner in Florida, who lives in Tallahassee. She noted that the city was expected to see extensive wind damage from Helene, but managed to escape the worst of it as the storm moved eastward.

Top photo: Tree damage in Tallahassee. (Larry Roberts, with McGinniss Himmel Insurance Agency)