- Hi, I'm Jack Conley, Chief Operating Officer here at WEDU PBS, and I'm so grateful to welcome you to this special edition of Florida This Week.

Tonight's program is focused on something that touches every one of us across west central Florida.

Hurricane season, disaster preparedness, and the resources our communities depend on before, during, and after a storm.

We have an incredible lineup of guests joining us for this special, and we want to thank each of them for spending time with us to share what we believe is vital information for viewers like you here in WEDU 16 county viewing area.

We know all too well the impact of hurricanes can have.

Over the years, our region has faced powerful storms, flooding, damage to homes and businesses, long recoveries, and moments of real uncertainty for families across our neighborhoods.

But we've also seen the incredible resilience of our communities.

we see neighbors helping neighbors, first responders stepping up, local organizations providing support, and families doing everything they can to stay informed and prepared.

And that is why this special matters at WEDU PBS.

Public media is about service.

It is about trust.

It's about making sure important information reaches the people who need it.

Whether we are bringing you local conversations through Florida this week, producing stories from across our region, or connecting viewers with trusted resources.

WEDU is here to serve this community, and programs like this one are only possible because of viewers like you.

So as you watch tonight, if you learn something helpful, if you hear a piece of advice that could help your family be prepared, or if you value having a trusted local public media station bringing these conversations into your home, we hope you will consider making a donation to WEDU when you make a gift of support tonight.

We also have several thank you gifts that connect directly to hurricane preparedness at the $72 level.

You can receive the WEDU Basics Disaster Kit, a helpful starter kit to keep on hand as you prepare your home and family for storm season.

At the $96 level, we have the WEDU Dry Tote Bag, a practical item designed to help keep important supplies, documents or personal items protected and easy to carry.

At the $120 level, you can receive the Eton FRX2 Emergency radio and phone charger, a valuable tool to help you stay connected to weather alerts and emergency information when power or internet access may be limited.

At the $150 level, we have the Blaber Solar Power Bank, which can help keep your phone or small devices charge when you need them most and at the $300 level.

You can receive the full preparedness combo, which includes a WEDU Basics Disaster Kit.

The WEDU Dry Tote Bag, Emergency Radio, and the Solar Power Bank.

These gifts are our way of saying thank you for supporting WEDU while also helping you think about your own preparedness this hurricane season.

You can make your gift by calling the number on your screen or by visiting WEDU.org/gifts.

Every donation matters whether this is your first time supporting w edu or if you've been a member for years, your contribution helps keep trusted local programing available to everyone across our 16 county viewing area.

Thank you for watching.

Thank you for trusting WEDU PBS and thank you for helping make important local programs like this possible.

Now let's join Lissette and our special guest for this special edition of Florida This Week.

- This is a production of WEDU PBS Tampa, St.

Petersburg, Sarasota.

[music] - Two years ago, the water came first Helene and then Milton.

Just two weeks later, the storms flooded homes and whole neighborhoods across Tampa Bay and Sarasota.

Tonight, we ask one simple question where are we two years later?

Meet the people still working their way back home.

See what's being done to get ahead of the next storm.

Explore the lessons learned and the ones still unfolding from WEDU.

Thank you for joining us for our hurricane special on Florida This Week.

[music] Welcome back everybody.

I'm Lissette Campos.

Tonight we're devoting the next hour to how our region is still coming back from Hurricane Helene and Milton, and how it's getting ready for what may come.

Behind every statistic, there's a family, a home, a neighborhood that had to start over.

On our first panel are three people who've seen this recovery firsthand.

Wendy Ross is a broker associate and shareholder with Florida Executive Realty and a certified negotiation expert who knows the housing market in this region very well.

Barry Rubin leads the Pinellas Beaches chamber, and he is the vice president of the Shore Acres Civic Association, one of the neighborhoods hit hardest by the flooding.

And Tony Brito, he is the president of capital adjusters.

He's been a senior public adjuster in Florida since 2003, and a member of the Florida Association of Public Insurance Adjusters, he represented more than 100 families in the region after Helene and Milton, including my own family.

When families feel like the system isn't hearing them, he is often the person they call.

Then stay tuned for part two.

We look at the innovation and the hard choices behind a more resilient Florida.

George Segal is a documentary filmmaker whose work, including the film Built to Last: Buyer Beware, asks why we keep rebuilding the same way.

Abigail Hall is an economics professor at the University of Tampa and an expert on the economics of disaster and emergency response.

And Craig Pittman is an award winning environmental journalist and author of six books on Florida.

He's now with the Florida Phoenix.

Those of us who are hurricane survivors know that when a storm is bearing down.

Expect the power will go out, that cell service will drop.

That the internet will go dark, but public media stays on the air.

WEDU is part of the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network, a statewide team of meteorologists and public media stations that keeps Floridians informed before, during and after severe weather.

It reaches nearly every corner of our state on every platform, and it stays running even when everything else goes down.

You can carry it with you as well.

Take a closer look at your screen.

This is the free Florida Storms app.

It delivers local forecast, evacuation routes and shelter information right to your phone.

Because the time to prepare is before the storm has a name.

For more than 100 years, the Tampa Bay area had been spared a direct hit from hurricanes.

That streak ended in 2024 with two storms in two weeks, Helene pushed a record storm surge into our coastline.

And then Milton came ashore just to the south.

The cost is still being counted.

The state's Office of Insurance Regulation has been tracking that toll.

Hurricane Helene nearly $2.6 billion in insured losses across the state.

Hurricane Milton even higher.

More than $5.6 billion in all Floridians filed more than half a million insurance claims, and much of it came from right here in west coast-central Florida.

Pinellas County filed more claims from Helene than any other county in the state.

And when Milton hit Hillsborough, claims led all of the state.

And here's what those numbers don't show.

So much of that flooding wasn't even insured.

The federal government has spent more than $11 billion helping Florida recover nearly 8 billion of it on flood claims.

Private insurance did not cover.

Which means the true cost to families runs far higher.

Behind each claim is someone who had to decide whether to rebuild or walk away.

- Pretty amazing.

- Across west coast-central Florida, an unusual sight has become a familiar one.

Houses are rising into the air nearly two years after Helene and Milton.

This is what recovery looks like.

Not just rebuilding, but rebuilding.

Up for the folks who lived through the water, a single choice had to be made raze, rebuild or walk away from their home in Madeira Beach.

Robert Sawyer chose to rise.

- I'd always seen the.

Seen the tides rising.

And then the storms come.

- A retired airline pilot, Robert, had thought about lifting his beach house for years.

Helene made the choice for him.

- I had 51in of water.

It was awful.

Just awful.

Yeah.

We had sludge six inches deep down the driveway.

The whole backyard was full of stuff that had come in from over on the other side of the peninsula.

It literally looked like a war zone.

- Today, his house is safely out of the flood zone, but Robert still isn't in.

He's under it, living in a camper parked underneath the house.

His sense of humor firmly intact.

- This is the beach house.

I'm living in a trailer now.

No kidding.

- For Robert, the math made sense.

Lifting cost far less than tearing down and starting over.

Turning his old ground floor into brand new space.

- Lifting is going to be expensive, but relatively.

It's nothing compared to.

If I were to tear the house down and rebuild as I have a garage that's above me now it's about 360 ft.

That was not part of the house.

So suddenly that becomes usable space at $500 to $700 a square foot.

That pays for my lift.

- But getting there wasn't simple.

Robert qualified for the state's Elevate Florida program after he'd already started paying for the lift himself.

The program does not reimburse work already underway, and Robert wasn't being allowed to use the building plans that he wanted, so he walked away from the help.

- My neighbors have been approved for Elevate Florida.

And they're, you know, they say it's on track, but they don't know when it's going to start.

And, you know, their house.

Nothing's done with that yet.

And, uh, mine's lifted.

- Across the Pinellas County Peninsula in St.

Petersburg's Riviera Bay.

Courtney Stein made a different choice.

She's one of the fortunate ones already home.

When Helene hit, she had 39in of water inside the house, opening up.

- You know, your kitchen cabinets and just having, like, everything filled with water and family pictures floating on the floor.

And, you know, just knowing that everything you're building is, is gone in that moment.

- Even with her home underwater, Courtney Stein and her husband turned it into a relief hub.

The neighbors called it Stein Mart.

- Within 24 hours, we had 50 people lined up to go help and knock on doors and do wellness checks and check on our senior citizens.

- Her garage is still full of boxes and her backyard?

Well, it opens onto a sound track that hasn't stopped in two years and it's getting louder.

- So this is like, this is the new anthem of Riviera Bay.

Listen.

- The anthem is.

- Saws.

Hammers?

Yes.

- It's the sound of a neighborhood remaking itself.

One house at a time.

But not everyone gets to stay for the ending.

- You get a Tale of Two cities.

You have the people that you know have been able to push their way through.

And then there's people that are still sitting with homes that are gutted.

- Many are still trapped in red tape, waiting on permits or caught by a federal rule that forces a hard choice.

It's the 5050 FEMA rule.

If repairs top half of a home's value, it must be rebuilt to today's flood standards.

Stay under that line and you can rebuild as you were.

For some, the numbers just don't work, and they sell.

- The basic human need is to have a place to land.

And like finally being back home has been just so good for us, so good for our soul to finally be able to take a nice deep breath.

- Courtney and her family moved six times in the weeks and months after the storms before finally coming home.

Home Sweet Home has taken on different meaning.

- Yes, it absolutely has.

Like I'm never leaving.

[laughter] - Two hurricane seasons in.

Some neighbors are home, but many are not.

The work.

Well, it goes on.

And now let's go to our first panel of experts and welcome to all of you.

Thank you so much for joining us.

- Thanks for having us.

It's nice to be here.

- As we think of it's almost been two years.

Um, what are the things that stick with you the most?

Barry, with your family, you're still in the process of rebuilding, as am I.

- Yes.

Well, I'm sorry about your situation as well.

And, um, it's difficult.

It's has been a challenge for most people.

We're no exception.

We're very lucky in the sense that we are back in our home and we're excited to be back in the house, although there's still a lot of work to do.

And as we talked about in the green room, it's the gift that keeps on giving in the sense that we're always finding new and exciting consequences that Helene and Milton brought us.

But we're hopeful that that everybody will be back to where they need to be shortly.

And we can go a few years without having to deal with such perils.

- How has the neighborhood changed?

- Well, it's changed quite a bit, so there's a lot of elevation going on.

There are still quite a few people who are in trailers in their front yards, an unbelievable amount actually, that are still working on their homes.

And some have just up and walked away.

They've just gotten frustrated with the process or they just are just so despondent in the, in the problems that they were having, that it was just time or just too difficult for some people to handle, and they're just simply walking away and selling short and or some are just abandoning altogether.

And it's unfortunate.

- And, and so many people did just give up.

Wendy, I'd like to ask you.

When someone has to sell a home that they really never wanted to sell because of that, what has that process been like for you working with these families?

- It's it's been difficult to say the least, because I don't think they've seen anything like this happen to our region in the past.

You have people that have strong family ties and strong community ties to the neighborhoods that they live in and they love, and they chose for a reason.

And just like Barry said, some people are just walking away altogether depending on where they can get in the rebuilding process or in the insurance claim process.

At the end of the day, I will always say that people still choose Tampa Bay despite the storms.

It's a very difficult process, but a lot of people are getting through it.

- And so many folks are surprised to find out that there are still cases being resolved that date back to Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Tony, I'd like to ask you when when we spoke earlier this week, you said that you had just settled one of the last ones this week after Milton.

- That is correct.

Almost about two years after just settled one of the last cases now recently related to Hurricane Milton, which is shocking because everyone you know, it's been a couple of years since have passed, and everyone assumes that the dust has all settled.

But, uh, that's nothing could be further from the truth.

- Why is that so many that the cases take so long?

- Um, the cases take long.

Uh, there's a couple factors.

Usually it's a dispute about scope and pricing.

Uh, not so much the damages and those that process can, can play out for, for some time.

Um, and in the process, it's a, it's a very stressful process because the families are not able to rebuild until, until they know exactly what their, what their, what their settlement will be in order for them to have the funds to rebuild.

Um, so it's a, it's a stressful process.

And the biggest thing that I can, um, that I can recommend for, for, for policyholders and families is to prepare.

Don't wait till the storm prepare before the storm hits.

Uh, the chances for the most successful claim is the claim you start to prepare before the storm hits.

- And yet so many of us don't want to think about hurricane season.

The conversations between a claim person and the insurance company, or the person and the public adjuster, they're very intense.

I know they were, in my case, Tony, what do people typically start off by saying when they come to you and they say, I need your help.

I need you to be my public insurance adjuster.

- Well, in many cases, they're, they're there's a lot of fear.

There's a lot of anguish.

When you speak to them early on, you feel the stress in there.

And because it's naturally a lot of, uh, many folks, uh, property owners and business owners, uh, after a major hurricane, this is the first time that they're ever facing an insurance claim.

So there's a lot of uncertainty with what you don't know and what you don't know what to expect.

And that's why, um, you know, you should have, uh, or at least have the resources to be able to, that you can look into in order to make informed decisions based on your loss.

I think that's very important to have those tools available to the public so that they can, uh, make decisions.

Yeah.

You know, to, with information.

Yes, absolutely.

Information is key because, um, hurricane damage affects across all party lines, right?

It doesn't matter if you have a D, an R or an I in front of your.

Yeah.

It doesn't matter.

We all go through it and, and it's a time for community to come together and help help one another, regardless of party lines.

- Wendy, what what would you say is the health of our real estate market in the Tampa Bay region?

Almost two years after Helene?

- Well, I'd say 26 has really been a different year because if you go back a year ago now, we were all still reeling from the storms we were trying to get through.

People were in hotels or Airbnbs or trying to quickly make decisions to relocate their families.

So when when you look at this year versus last year, it has been different.

I think memories can be short for some people.

Um, when we get people that are moving in from out of the area and they're not used to that, then we're having to tell them the story.

This is what happened to us almost two years ago.

This is why you should prepare and have those documents in order before a storm comes along.

So we're trying to explain to them, just like we try to explain to people who relocate to Florida that we do have alligators in our ponds.

You know, there's things that they're not aware of because they just haven't gone through these storm seasons and they haven't gone through it.

So I think the market, at least in general, has seen a lot of those rehabs, a lot of those remodeling properties out there that have been picked up by the investors and resold.

I think buyers do need to be careful when they're looking at those to know what type of remediation was completed on the home.

Was there a permit pulled for the work that was done?

Was it done appropriately?

- What are the resources?

What what should the potential buyer be asking about that specific home?

- Anything that they can ask, whether it's a disclosure, if they can get a disclosure or information, possibly from the previous owner, from an investor owned, they're not going to be able to get a disclosure that shows what happened during the storm.

So that's going to be a little bit different.

But can they ask and see what's on the public records, see what type of things have been replaced, what things have been inspected by the county and things that have been closed out.

So all of that's important.

And then you have a lot of those buyers that come in and say, what kind of home safety solutions can we come up with either to protect our existing property?

Because we went through it and we remodeled, but now we're coming to Florida and we're buying what kind of hurricane coverings can we get?

What kind of roll down shades, what kind of impact glass can we put on our properties to be able to protect, which is usually somebody's biggest investment?

- Barry, you've seen so much.

We've talked about your experience as the VP of Shore Acres Civic Association.

Um, taking that hat off and putting on your hat as president of the Pinellas Beaches Chamber.

Um, your thoughts on, on just how the community has rallied together after facing so much.

- And that's really what gave me the greatest amount of hope.

So immediately after the storm, people came together and formed, um, great unity in getting things done.

Um, there were really two camps, those that that needed and those that were in a position to give and even those that need it gave.

And that was just what makes our community such a wonderful thing.

So we had a resource store that was opened on Madeira Way.

People donated to.

And people would come and take what they needed.

We created worked with a group, pardon me.

So at City Hall for Thanksgiving and Madeira Beach City Hall, we fed 2000 families for Thanksgiving.

Immediately following Helene, we have.

We did a toy drive both last year and this year.

This is the chamber and we raised over 1000 gifts for holiday gifts for children who were in need, who parents couldn't get out and buy gifts that first Thanksgiving, that first Christmas, or for the holiday season simply because they lost their cars.

They had lost their jobs, they had lost their resources.

So we were going to make sure that that wasn't going to be a hindrance to to be able to give their families a holiday.

And we continued that on for this year.

And I just heard from one of our large sponsors this morning, who I met with on John's pass, that they are Bringing it back again this year.

So we're going to be raising another 1000.

- Congratulations.

- Thank you.

And she was the same.

So we we provided for them as well.

Uh, and uh, just made sure everybody had what they needed to have.

So that was a great outpouring from this community.

And I think that's what makes us just so special.

- Well, thank you to all of you for being part of our hurricane special this year.

Again, we want to thank our panelists, Wendy Ross, Barry Rubin, and Tony Brito.

Grab your phone and save these numbers on screen now before you need them.

211 for shelters, food and local help the FEMA helpline for federal Disaster assistance, Florida's own emergency information line, the state's insurance consumer helpline.

If you're fighting a claim and to find designated shelters, just text the word shelter and your ZIP code.

Finally, be sure to download the free Florida Storms app so the forecast follows you wherever you go.

- Go.

- Welcome back to Florida.

This week, I really hope you are enjoying this very important reason for being here.

My name is Carrie Mobley and I am a volunteer here at WEDU.

- And I'm Jack Conley, Chief Operating Officer for WEDU.

For more than 30 years, Florida this week, formerly Tampa Bay week has been bringing you the issues that are important to our community every Friday night here on WEDU.

Over the years, we've covered all sorts of issues transportation, taxes, political news of the day.

And now during hurricane season, we're bringing you this important information to keep your family best prepared for your safety and security.

And that's what public media is all about.

WEDU nearly 70 years in Tampa Bay has been providing programs just like Florida this week.

And this important information to keep your family safe.

And we can only do it through your financial support.

Your donation during this program will help keep your family prepared.

And Carrie's going to share with us the thank you gifts that come along with your donation.

- That's right, Jack.

And this is really important because hurricanes can be so unpredictable.

We have some really great resources, ways for you to call in and really give a donation to public television, while also helping yourself tremendously and possibly your neighbors as well.

So we're going to start out at the $72 level or a $6 a month sustainer.

You will be able to receive the WEDU Basic Disaster Kit.

Now, this is a helpful starter kit to keep on hand as you prepare your household at the $96 level, or just $8 a month.

As a sustainer, we have the WEDU dry tote bag.

Now, this is really great for keeping important items like your documents, your supplies, medications, things like that protected and easy to grab if you need to leave quickly.

We also have at the $120 level, or at just $10 a month.

As a sustainer, you can receive the item FRX2 Emergency Radio.

This is so cool and so helpful.

This is a practical tool that can help you stay connected to weather updates and emergency information.

When your power or your internet or your cell service may be limited.

At the $150 level or at $12.50 a month.

As a sustainer, we have the BLAVOR Solar Power Bank, which can help keep your phone or small devices charged during outages.

But at the $300 level, or just at $25 a month.

As a sustainer, you can receive the full preparedness combo that is the Basics Disaster Kit, the Dry Tote Bag, the Emergency Radio, and the Solar Power Bank.

We love that solar power bank We actually tested it out.

We had a whole team here trying to figure out which would work the best, what would be the best for you.

And this is the one.

So as you're making your donations, keep that in the back of your mind that this has been true, tried and tested.

So we really hope that you take advantage of this opportunity to make a donation to public television that also helps you in the future.

- The important thing is, is whatever donation level you can afford, please make that gift and support programs like Florida This Week.

This evening, you know, I mentioned earlier that Florida This Week has been on the air for over 30 years.

Once upon a time it was called Tampa Bay Week, but we saw the impact that we were having across the 16 county viewing area and communities that we serve through our broadcast.

And so we went to the more correctly Florida This Week, because we're sharing topics that matter to Floridians across the state and to those here in our 16 county viewing area.

Over the years, we've covered all sorts of topics just after Helene and Milton came through and we suffered through those devastations, we did a special hurricane program on Florida this week that helped people navigate the insurance problems, the cleanup, and showing stories of resilience and of neighbors helping neighbors.

You know, Mr.

Rogers always said that won't you be my neighbor?

And that kindness is the most important thing.

And that is so important.

And here at a public media station like WEDU, we want to share those stories and share these resources that help prepare your family and the communities that you live in, uh, to be able to be prepared when storms come.

So the important thing is, is that you send us your support, any of the thank you gifts that work for you, that would be terrific.

But we know that we've done the extra work so that those thank you gifts can help your family in this time when storm season is upon us.

So please show us your support for this public media station by sending us a gift.

And Carrie's going to give us again the list of thank you gifts that can be yours for your donation.

- That's right Jack, and really, the truth is, being prepared is the difference often between something tragic happen and everyone being safe and taken care of.

So I just want to let you know some of these wonderful thank you gifts that we would like you to take advantage of, because not only will you be supporting public television, supporting WEDU, but also could help you and your family and like Jack said, your neighbors as well.

So let's get started.

Okay, so at the $72 level or $8 a month, I'm sorry, $6 a month, you can receive the WEDU basics disaster kit.

Now, this is a helpful starter kit just to keep on hand as you are preparing your household for a $96 donation, or just $8 a month as a sustainer.

We have the WEDU Dry Dote Bag.

Now, this is going to be great for keeping important information, your documents, medicines, things like that protected from any water damage.

And it's going to be so easy to grab if you need to leave quickly for a $120 donation or just $10 a month as a sustainer, you can receive the FRX2 Emergency Radio.

You guys, I've played with this.

It's really cool.

It's really imperative to have.

And it's a practical tool to help you stay connected to weather updates and emergency information.

If and when power, internet or cell service might be limited.

Now for $150 donation, or just $12.50 a month.

As a sustainer, we have the black or solar power bank, which can help keep your phone or small devices charged during outages.

Super important now for $300 donation or just $25 a month.

As a sustainer, you can receive the full preparedness combo.

That's that basics disaster kit.

The WEDU Dry Tote Bag, the Emergency Radio, and the Solar Power Bank.

Now, something else important to note is that with all of these thank you gifts, with all of these gifts, we're also including information from the American Red Cross.

Right?

It's just more information about our community, how to prepare, what to do after a situation.

And I just think that this is going to be a great way for you to support public television to support WEDU, but also to support your community and your family.

- That's right.

So call the number on your screen.

Make that donation tonight or visit us at WEDU.org/gifts and make your donation now.

Thank you.

[music] - Welcome back to Florida This week I'm Lissette Campos.

In our first half hour, we met the people still finding their way home.

And now we turn to a different question.

Not just how we recover, but how to get ahead of the next storm.

For years, Florida has been very good at reacting, cleaning up, and rebuilding.

But the hardest part is to be ready before that storm arrives.

And being ready is about so much more than feeling.

It's a question of money.

The most cited study on the subject found that every dollar spent getting ready before a storm saves at least $6 in what it costs to recover after.

This is from the National Institute of Building Science, and for flooding, the payoff is even higher.

We've already seen what the storms cost this region more than $8 billion in insured losses alone and far more that wasn't covered by insurance.

So the question isn't whether we can afford to prepare.

It's can we afford not to.

Across our region some folks aren't waiting to find out.

For generations, Florida's answer to a hurricane often came after the storm.

Clean up.

Distribute emergency dollars.

Rebuild.

But now a different idea is taking hold.

Get ahead of the water before it arrives.

When Helene and Milton came, this barrier stood between Tampa General Hospital and the Bay.

- My name is Patrick Hansen.

I'm the chief revenue officer of Aqua.

- The aqua fence looks simple.

It isn't.

The panels are engineered for each building, and the physics in each panel work with the flood.

- The more water, the more stable the system is.

So the weight of the water actually keeps the system in place.

- Tampa General Hospital sits on a man made island dredged from the bottom of Tampa Bay.

A century ago, it's in a mandatory evacuation zone and about eight feet above sea level.

The aqua fence nearly doubles that, holding back surge up to 15ft, and through both Hurricanes Helene and Milton, this hospital never closed.

- Look at Tampa General.

900 people in that hospital did not have to evacuate.

And that's not because of Aqua.

That's because of the leadership at Tampa General.

How they took this serious and actually did what it took in order to protect the hospital.

- It's not just hospitals.

The same approach is going up around the things we might never think about until they go offline.

That lesson hit home in St.

Pete.

When Helene Surge came, the city had to power down its northeast sewer plant and for nearly three days, a quarter of the city's residents could not flush a toilet or run the water.

Nothing could go down a drain.

- Lift stations.

That's life continuity.

So we have clean water.

We can go to the bathroom, we can use the stove, we can cook like very, very essential.

And it's important.

- Downtown, a critical lift station just six feet above the bay came within inches of flooding.

For the first time ever, the city's answer a nine foot barrier.

So next time the system stays up.

- Florida is phenomenal at being reactive.

We can be better at being proactive and thinking about.

So we don't have to have this disruption that we've seen lately.

- That same word, proactive, is remaking entire neighborhoods because for thousands of homeowners, a federal rule robbed them of choice.

- If your house is damaged more than 50%, you have to put your house in compliance, which is to lift the house, or you have to tear the house down and build new.

They're not letting you fix your house if you're over 50% damaged.

- Davie shoring raises about 200 homes a year.

It's one of the biggest lifters in the state.

The old ground floor becomes a new living space.

Often the resulting gains in home value indirectly help pay for the lift itself.

Nearly two years after Helen and Milton, they are still busy, almost as busy as day one.

- Two years after the storm.

We're probably 75% as busy as we were when it first started, so there's still people wanting to go up.

It's still a thing that they're going to have to do.

They don't want to get flooded again.

- The state tried to help with a program called Elevate Florida.

It covers 75% of the cost to raise a home.

More than 12,000 families applied, but the budget covered only about 2000 homes in Pinellas County alone, nearly 4000 families applied, and a year later, the state had yet to start construction on a single home through the program.

Still waiting on federal approval, most residents who could afford it stopped waiting, and they lifted their homes themselves.

For Greg, the math made sense.

- The floods are not going to change.

They're going to get worse and change the coastline for clear from Fort Myers.

Clear up to here.

It brought sand and silt into the estuaries that filled the estuaries up.

Now, when we have a storm like Milton that was 100 miles off the coast, it flooded everything around because there's nowhere for the water to go.

At high tides, the water comes in.

It's just going to be a way of life now.

- Two paths, one idea.

Protect what matters before the water comes.

Not after.

Two years after Helene and Milton reshaped west coast-central Florida.

The question isn't just whether we survived, it's whether we've actually learned anything.

Joining me now are three people uniquely positioned to help us understand where we are and where we need to be.

Craig Pittman has spent decades covering Florida, its environment and its politics, and the storms that have tested both.

He is the author of six books and a contributing correspondent to the Florida Phoenix.

George Segal is a filmmaker who was already asking the hard questions about how we build in Florida, long before Helene and Milton made those questions impossible to ignore.

His documentaries, Built to Last: Buyer Beware, and The Last House Standing, take a very hard look at what we're building and why it fails.

And we have Abigail Hall.

She is an economics professor at the University of Tampa who studies what government gets right and what they get wrong when disaster strikes.

Welcome to all of you.

Um, so the first question is where are we?

Two years after Helene and Milton, and are we where we need to be?

Craig, I'd like to start with you.

- Well, I think, um, we're in some ways we're worse off than we were before.

Uh, primarily because the legislature passed this bill, Senate Bill 180, that ties the hands of local governments and says they can't make people build in different places than the ones that got washed away during the storms.

So folks who suffered the worst possible disaster now have to now are having to deal with the fact that they, the, the, their citizens can't be benefited by the knowledge that they have about that they have to build back in the exact same place they were at before.

- George, when you've done these documentaries, you're out filming with the builders, filming with the insurance adjusters, with the public, adjusters, with the family.

I mean, where are we?

Have we made the progress that you you'd hope we would make after two.

After two years almost.

- Well, I guess the answer would be no.

You know, we were handed a huge lesson with back to back hurricanes.

So the question is, what did we learn?

There are some people who are just fixing their house and moving back in.

There's some people that are raising their house.

There's some people had to sell for 50 cents on the dollar.

And then there's other people that are still living in trailers in front of their house.

So I think when you look back, the victims probably learned the hardest lesson because most of them are probably still not recovered and some people never recover.

The person that lives right next door to that person that had nothing now feels invincible and they don't do anything.

So it's a hard lesson and a slow learning learning process for everybody.

- Abigail, you've talked about the different aspects of policy that have made things harder, and you've focused on the issue with contractors coming in from other states or not being allowed to.

Can you explain that to our viewers?

- Sure.

So one of the things that I think people don't appreciate is that all of the policies that we have, even though they might be well intentioned, have unforeseen cost.

So one of the things that's really slowed the potential for Florida recovery has to do with our relatively really strict laws related to out-of-state contractors being able to come in and engage in their trades, whether we're talking about plumbing, HVAC, or home construction.

And Florida actually has some of the strictest laws related to disaster response.

And so there are some very clear, I think, policy avenues that we could explore for future hurricanes that would allow us to build back better and build back faster.

- Let's talk about insurance in terms of the insurance industry.

We are seeing some positive signs.

Citizens property insurance has shed over 540 000 policies.

It is supposed to be the insurer of last resort.

We've got at least 17 new insurance companies coming in to the state.

Um, how do you all see this situation?

Is it an illusion or is it real progress being made?

- I would go with it's an illusion until you see it work.

And what happens with insurance?

It's a false promise by a company that they're going to take care of you and be there for you when you need them, and to a victim when it doesn't meet that standard.

That's life changing for them.

And their goal in many cases is to find ways not to pay you.

So it's a risky contract if your only plan for survival is having insurance, it's a gamble.

- Talk to us about the economics of this whole process with insurance and restoration and renovations.

- Yeah.

So we've certainly seen stabilization in the market for insurance, at least when it comes to competition.

So what we were seeing prior to the hurricanes was we had a lot of insurers who were exiting the state, which saw, of course, people moving to that insurer of last resort.

With these new companies in the game, we do have a reduction, actually, for the first time in a very long time in prices.

But there's a real question here, as was just mentioned, about how well these insurance companies will potentially perform.

But this also doesn't address the issue of affordability.

So even though premiums may be mercifully coming down, there's still some of the highest rates in the country.

- Craig, how do you see this whole dilemma of the insurance?

- Well, I mean, as a as a customer, it's it's a it's a headache because not only is the home insurance price is high, but the car insurance as well.

I mean, we're getting a double whammy here from this stuff.

And the legislature doesn't seem to be inclined to help at all.

- When we're when we're looking at innovation.

What would you say are innovations that you've heard of that are working, that you're that you're happy are in place?

George?

- Well, the best innovation for me that seems to be the safest is everybody built like they do in South Florida with concrete homes on first, the first and second floor or and even the third floor.

That's a huge thing that I think everybody should think about.

But we see now huge apartment complexes around Tampa.

We were up in Mexico Beach, all made of wood.

Only the stairwell and the parking garage is concrete.

That's crazy.

There's no disclaimer on the side of the building that says this is likely going to go airborne in a disaster, but people live there thinking they're safe because it's a big building.

- Explain to our viewers what happens when a home has this, the the second story made out of wood and when it has concrete.

- As the house ages, if it's wood, it gets compromised.

When there's cracks, it now gets in and rots the wood.

So that's now a weaker area of the house.

You also have the problem of, of, of just the, the way the house is engineered and the safety.

When things blow into wood, they go right through it.

- And Abby, you've talked about the the financially.

No one is really being.

Um, I guess the question is what incentives financially can we give so that the innovative products are being used.

- So certainly there are different options here.

So one potential option is to legislate that certain materials or certain codes be followed.

But one of the things that we often find is that minimum code compliance doesn't translate to climate resiliency.

And so for a lot of people, this is an individual choice, which of course is informed not only by things like budgets, but also the information that people have available when either they're rebuilding or potentially looking to buy a home.

And those differences in information can make a really big difference.

Again, potentially, if people know what they're looking for when they're buying or constructing a home.

But then, of course, has potentially very large implications on the back end.

If, say, you buy a house and you're not informed and then you're stuck with the result.

- Yeah.

Craig, is there an innovation that you've said this is a good thing?

- I don't know if I'd call it an innovation, but last year the legislature did one really good thing, which was they finally said, if you're selling a home that flooded, you have to disclose that to the buyer, which it's crazy that that was not required for sellers, but thank heavens it now is because an awful lot of flooded homes are back on the market now.

- Go ahead.

- I think people need to understand if you're buying a house and the builder says this house is built to code, what they're really saying is, I built this house to the minimum standard I could get away with to sell you.

So it's now your problem.

Built a code is not thinking forward.

It's not thinking to the future of what's coming your way.

- Well, I'm going to borrow your title for one of your documentaries, Built to Last.

Right.

Um, and let's talk about the building standards.

Are we building things to last?

- I would say no.

I'd say we see too many examples of that.

When anybody buys a house, the builder should have the mentality.

They may be living in this house for the next 30 years.

This is their happily ever after forever home.

The problem is now that workers are being paid by the job and not by the hour, the incentive to stay there and get things right is no longer existing.

They want to go on to the next job because they make more money.

That's not in our best interest as the buyers of that property.

- I think there are some real political economy issues here too.

So when we look at kind of recovery after disaster, people sometimes confuse building with resiliency.

And so one of the things that we're seeing, and this is as a result of both state and local level policy, is there's a real incentive to just rebuild and rebuild, often in the same spots that were really prone to damage and have suffered damage, sometimes multiple times.

The unfortunate part is that the cost of that gets spread out a over time, and also across many, many more people.

And so you have this kind of perfect storm of perverse incentives, which means, again, we build back, but not necessarily better.

- Greg, um, let me just mention that if you're buying a home on one of Florida's barrier islands.

That's a really bad idea.

And you should ask, what's the evacuation time from here?

Because as we learned after Ian, uh, Lee County had an evacuation time of 96 hours from the barrier islands, which is crazy.

That's 80 hours more than it should have been for a category five storm.

But the state was letting them go through with that.

And the Lee County attorney observed that, oh, there's 45 other counties with the same problem.

So, uh, that's a, that's a, that's a recipe for disaster.

- So the accountability, who is accountable when, when, when we're not building to last.

- You have to be your own best advocate.

I tell people in our film, you have to look out for yourself because nobody's looking out for you.

So you have to ask a million questions, either of the seller or the builder.

I have a list of things of questions I give people because you want them to almost not like you, because you're asking so many questions because those things matter and they matter to you, and they're going to matter when you try to unload that house on someone else.

So you have to be a detective.

You have to ask a lot of questions, because if you don't, no one's just going to hand you the answers.

- I see both of you nodding your heads in agreement.

Yes.

As a victim of Hurricane Helene and Milton, I'm nodding my head, too.

You definitely have to.

So where do we go from here?

What should happen next?

When you look at policies and decisions that have been made?

If there's one policy that you think should be changed or should be amplified because it's working, what would that be?

Craig, I'd like to start.

- I think the legislature should repeal Senate Bill 180.

There are a whole bunch of local governments now suing to try and overturn it, because it handcuffs them from trying to do anything constructive from what they learned from the storms.

And the sponsor, Senator Nick, said he would be okay with it, and then they didn't repeal it.

So I think the onus is on him to make sure that happens.

- Abigail.

- So for me, I think a very obvious point would be looking at and reassessing the disaster provisions when it comes to licensed out-of-state contractors.

And of course, what we don't want is an influx of unqualified people who are not doing appropriate work in Florida again, after people have just suffered from, you know, oftentimes really devastating losses.

But there are things that we could very practically do, even if it's something as simple as having contractors and say, Alabama or Georgia register with the state prior to, say, a hurricane season.

So that just like when we see the linemen from out of state ready to come in and help after a storm has passed, we see the same thing for plumbers, Hvac and home builders.

- George, what policy change do you think would be best?

- I'd like to see houses tagged with a rating like cars are a five star rating, a four star rating, a three star rating.

Brand that house with what's there, what are the features that make that house safe for people to live in happily ever after?

We're not telling people and they're making mistakes.

So sometimes you have to help people along.

And it's unfortunate for the person who gets tagged with the bad rating.

But you got to look forward with this.

You can't just say, well, I got to protect people with bad, bad houses and let them pass it on to someone else.

- In one word, your advice for this year's hurricane season?

- One word?

- Yes.

- I would say run.

No.

- No no no no no.

[laughter] Two words.

[laughter] - Be careful, be careful.

- Prepare.

- Yeah.

Just be ready.

I think that's the thing.

- Yeah.

That's the word that I was thinking.

Be ready.

Thank you so much for helping us do that and being here with us.

Our thanks again to George Segal, Craig Pittman and Abigail Hall.

- Welcome back.

We really appreciate you taking advantage of that program.

My name is Carrie Mobley, and I am a volunteer here at WEDU.

- And I am Jack Conley and I'm Chief Operating Officer for WEDU.

And joining us is Jose Bueno, who is with the American Red Cross.

And Jose is going to share a little bit of information about our community partner, the American Red Cross.

So Jose, welcome to WEDU.

Can you tell us a little bit about the American Red Cross and what they do for the community in preparations for hurricanes?

- Absolutely.

We have programs where we, uh, tell people, tell families how to be prepared in case there's a hurricane coming and how to be prepared before, during, and after a disaster.

- Very good.

And what sort of resources does the American Red cross have for the community?

- We have educational programs where people can join our volunteers, where we discuss how to be prepared in case of a hurricane, in case of a house fire, any type of disaster.

- Very good.

And what.

In preparations with hurricane season, what is the one most important item that folks should have?

- We work in a three pillar program, so the first one is get a kit, make a plan and be informed so we can talk about those three pillars.

But that's basically the system that we utilize for families to be prepared.

- Well, we really appreciate partners, community partners like the American Red Cross.

And Jose joining us here as we have this Florida this Week special on hurricane preparedness and what to do after the storm.

Um, we want to make sure that you provide a donation to w edu to make sure that we can keep this important work going.

And please know that with any of the donations tonight, we have thank you gifts available, but we also have additional resources for you and your family to be prepared before, during, and after the storm.

Carrie.

- Yeah.

Thanks, Jack.

So it's never too late to learn something new.

And it's never too early to prepare.

And so I really hope that you are going to take advantage of the information that you have received today, and to get yourself prepared before any storm arrives.

And we've got some great ways to make that happen.

They are our thank you gifts.

So what you do is you call in or go online to WEDU.org/gifts and make a donation, for example, at the $72 level or at $6 a month.

As a sustainer, you can receive the WEDU Basics Disaster Kit.

Now, this is a helpful kit to get you to keep on hand as you prepare your household.

Now, at the $96 level or at $8 a month as a sustainer, we have the WEDU dry tote bag.

This is going to be imperative for keeping important items like documents, medications, or supplies protected and easy to grab if you need to leave quickly at $120 donation or at $10 a month.

As a sustainer, you can receive the Eton FRX2 Emergency Radio.

I've used it.

I've played with it.

It is spectacular and it is a great practical tool to help you stay connected to weather updates and emergency information.

When the power or the internet or your cell service might be limited.

Now, with the $150 level, or at $12.50 a month, as a sustainer, we have the BLAVOR Solar Power Bank.

Now, this is really a great tool that can help keep your phone or small devices charged during outages.

You don't have to look for any cords or cables.

It's all right attached to it.

And of course, it's powered by the sun in case of any outage.

Now, for $300 or $25 a month as a sustainer, you can receive the entire preparedness kit.

So that's the the Basics Disaster Kit.

The WEDU Dry Tote Bag.

The emergency radio and the solar power bank.

- You saw through those thank you gifts that we've got a Disaster Preparedness Kit.

That is one of our thank you gifts.

But I know that the American Red cross also has a kit of its own that has a few more items, and that's available through the website at the American Red Cross.

- Yes, families can go to redcross.org and they can see the different sizes, different days.

I mean, we have one for three days, one for one day, and they can select what they need.

- That's terrific Jose.

And one thing I did want to ask you is that what one item is often overlooked that you would say is critical for people to have in their disaster, in their hurricane preparation kit?

- As an experienced Red cross long term recovery person, I know that documents often are overlooked and families can receive assistance after a year, after 18 months, and if they don't have the proper documentation, they may not be able to receive those.

So documents are very important.

- Very good.

And, you know, we've heard a lot of information about being prepared for the storm, about what to do during a storm and what to do after.

What is the one item that people should not overlook?

- My recommendation is take a look at your evacuation zone.

They change every couple of years and you can find that information@floridadisaster.org.

- Thank you Jose.

Thank you for tuning in this evening.

We appreciate your support.

Please know that WEDU PBS can only bring you this sort of important information with your support, and Kerry is going to share with us a little more about the thank you gifts you can get with your pledge of support of this Florida This Week special.

- At the $72 level.

And it's also $6 a month.

And you can receive the WEDU Basics Disaster Kit.

This is a helpful starter kit to keep on hand as you prepare your household for a $96 donation, or $8 a month as a sustainer.

We have the WEDU Dry Tote Bag.

Remember Jose was talking about how important it is to have those documents?

This is a great way to keep them safe, keep them secure, and keep them away from water.

Also, don't forget if you have a phone just to take pictures of those documents as well.

So keep that in mind at the $120 level or $10 a month.

As a sustainer, you can receive the Eton Emergency Radio.

This is a great practical tool to help you stay connected to weather updates and emergency information.

When there is no power or internet or your cell service might be limited for a $150 donation, or just $12.50 a month.

As a sustainer, we have the solar power bank, which can help keep your phone or small devices charged during outages.

I love that you don't have to look for any of the cords or cables.

They're all right there for you.

But for $300, the safety and security of your family.

This is a great donation, or just $25 a month that you can receive the full preparedness combo.

So that is the Disaster Kit, the Dry Tote Bag, the Emergency Radio, and the Solar Power Bank.

And just remember that every single one of these gifts, these thank you gifts, will also have the American Red cross pamphlets in there.

With all the information that Jose and the American Red Cross has put together.

There's also one more thing that I wanted to let you know.

If anyone has any questions about anything that they have seen in this program and you need more information or you need some clarification, please, please, please reach out to WEDU.

You can email us or you can call and we would have a representative that can really assist you with that.

Because this isn't just for show.

This is our community, our community as well.

And we want you to be safe as we all need to be safe as well.

So we really appreciate you watching and joining us on WEDU.

- And that's our hurricane special from all of us at WEDU in Florida This Week.

Thank you for spending this hour with us.

We know you have plenty of choices for your news and information, and we thank you for choosing us.

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