[Music] 4 days after Hurricane Milton roared onto the West Coast of Florida analysts estimate the massive storm Left Behind well over $ 100 billion of damage the mindbending numbers can be broken down into thousands of smaller disasters for individuals families and businesses across the state the cost of cleanup rebuilding and insurance in a coastal hurricane Zone have become prohibitive to some residents who are deciding they know longer can afford to live in Paradise NBC Stephanie gos has our Sunday Focus two weeks two Powerhouse storms first it was Hurricane Helen decimating towns from Florida to North
Carolina then hurricane Milton making landfall Wednesday on Florida's West Coast battering storm weary residents all over again walked outside and annihilated the neighborhood annihilated Florida residents pay the highest insurance premiums in the country nearly 11,000 annually for homeowners insurance but flood insurance is separate yet another headache for homeowners my mother lived here 30 years really she had to evacuate twice we've already had to evacuate four times and the loges have only lived on Ana Maria Island for 4 years now their home that they pay thousands to ensure this is your entire house out on the
driveway looks like this when you look at the expense that you likely have in front of you are you going to stay we said we would stay once if it happened again we're out well you just had two stor in a row so what is that does that count as once insurers are also weary some have pulled out of Florida altogether we're seeing hurricanes intensifying more quickly carrying more rainfall and unless we get ahead of that there's really no possibility of creating an insurance Market when you're constantly being battered and uh having to have record
payouts beyond the financial toll many worry higher costs will change the cultural landscape of communities the rich will be able to afford to stay those less fortunate will have to go good evening it was Paradise in flames in Hawaii just look at Maui a year after the tragic wildfires that destroyed 2,000 homes and businesses and left many people homeless today residents are paying 40% more in rent forcing them to leave for many people it's their great source of wealth it's how you create generational wealth and all of a sudden the goalposts move all of a
sudden it's too expensive to live there oh in a world where storms like Helen and Milton are more frequent and ferocious extreme weather has become a major consideration for where Americans choose to live last month buying site Zillow announced it's rolling out a new feature that shows how vulnerable listed homes are to extreme weather climate risk is a rising concern to buyers owners and sellers across the country particularly as we start to see insurance cost rise among all new home listings in August nearly 177% were at Major risk of wildfire while nearly 133% came with
a major risk of flooding back in Florida homeowners like Robin and Tom Logue left with a cruel calculus weighing climate risk against living in their retirement dream home but we packed our world up and brought it down here so this is all we have left we love this island but the justess is is horrible and Stephanie joins me now live Steph good morning so for homeowners from the Gulf Coast of Florida up through Western North Carolina who do have insurance will their coverage be enough to rebuild good morning Willie you know it will help a
little bit but here's one of the things people are worried about who live in federally declared flood zones by the government something called the 50% rule or what they refer to it as here the dreaded 50% rule let me explain to you what that is imagine you have a house worth $300,000 and the repairs that you want to do exceed $150,000 well now by law you will have to bring your house up to code and that actually may be physically bringing your house up on stilt by law so if water comes in you're protected that
could double Willie and sometimes triple the cost of repair wow and shoot up insurance rates as well fascinating Stephanie thanks so much hey thanks for watching don't miss the Today's Show every weekday at 11:00 a.m. eastern 8 Pacific on our streaming Channel today all day to watch head to today.com allay or click the link right here
