Some people it took months, while others are still waiting to go home a year after the May 10th tornadoes smashed through Tallahassee. For many, it’s hard to understand why the recovery is taking so long. An experienced contractor explains some of the delays
If it hadn’t been for Barbara Myers’ niece, the Vietnam vet would have been standing in the wrong place when the tornadoes hit.
“I was in the bathroom because my niece had called and said that her ride couldn’t take her to school," Myers says. "So, I was in the bathroom getting ready to go get her -- and that’s when the storm hit. If I’d been standing by the window in the bathroom, the limb that came through the roof would have gotten me in the top of my head.”
Myers’ house is out Apalachee Parkway, between the parkway and Old St. Augustine Road. She says she had to clamber over the fallen trees in her yard to survey the damage. Luckily, her neighbor had a generator.
“So, I started making phone calls to the insurance company and told my niece I wasn’t going to be able to come get her," she says. "She was 11 years old at the time. She said, ‘Just breathe. Calm down. Breathe.’”
That wasn’t so easy. Myers is a Navy veteran who served two tours in Vietnam and has depression, anxiety and PTSD. She says the tornadoes exacerbated that.
“It was a major trigger for me," she says, "and I had to have some extra counseling with my mental health therapist.”
Myers’ insurance covered a seven-month stay in a motel while her house was being repaired. She moved back home on December 15th.
“My house was almost destroyed," she says. "And it took 'em that long, between the insurance and the contractor that the insurance company hired to get it done.”
Myers’ experience isn’t unusual, says contractor Casey Meeks. In fact, he’s still working now to repair homes that were damaged in last year’s storm. He says working through the process with insurance adjusters and permitting can sometimes take longer than the time to make the actual repairs.
“A lot of it has to do with getting the proper documentation to the claim handler," Meeks says. "And a lot of it comes from the adjuster, so there’s several steps on the ladder to get it -- even to get it approved by the carrier. And a lot of these, the majority of these carriers don’t mind paying it, they just need the proper documentation to issue payment.”
Meeks has owned Meeks Construction since 2002. With the May 10th tornadoes, he says, some insurance carriers had so many policies that were affected, they couldn’t get to all of them in a timely way. And he says factors such as whether the damaged home was in an historic district could add to the amount of time, since they have to put the house back together as closely as possible to the way it was.
“And that could be ordering special-order bricks that takes 2 or 3 weeks, maybe even 4 weeks to get here, special-order windows," he says. "But the process of getting a permit in that area is, you’ve got to go through the historic district first. They do turn it around pretty quick once you submit all the proper documentation. And then you go to the city permit.”
Meeks says for people who are still grappling with getting their homes repaired, it’s a good idea to see if their insurance company can provide an approved vendor list.
“And see if there’s any of us in town on that list," he says. "I think we’re approved for about 28 different insurance carriers. So, it sort of helps, having a working relationship with these insurance companies. You know if you have to jump over someone’s head, you can get to the right person. It may take a little time, but you can do it.”
Meeks is hopeful that soon more people who saw damage from the storms will find themselves like Barbara Myers, finally back home again.
