- Lake Bonny residents are facing lengthy insurance delays and denials in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.
- Many residents have received insufficient funds from FEMA to cover the cost of rebuilding.
- The bureaucratic process and conflicting information from different agencies is causing confusion and frustration for homeowners.
Lakeland resident Misty Wells has a $10,000 check from her flood insurance to begin rebuilding her home along Lake Bonny’s canal that was flooded by Hurricane Milton.
Except, she hasn’t started. She can’t.
After the home on Lake Bonny Drive East sat submerged in floodwaters for more than 20 days, its foundation cracked in half. For four months, Wells has appealed to her flood and homeowner’s insurance companies, who have denied coverage.
It will cost an estimated $46,000, Wells said.
Without the funds to repair the foundation, the $10,000 check to rebuild the walls sit uncashed. Wells and her family live in a camper overlooking the home they are unable to repair.
“If we have to wait another six months for an answer, we might as well not rebuild until after the summer,” she said with a bitter laugh. “Because at least this way if it floods again, the water can flow right through the house. It ain’t going to damage nothing, it’s already gutted.”
Many Lake Bonny residents have become mired in a lengthy insurance process seeking funds to rebuild their homes and lives nearly four months after Hurricane Milton. Those who have received money often find it’s earmarked for specific purposes that don’t meet their immediate needs.
“We just have to get as much done as possible and keep going,” homeowner Nikki Aldahonda-Ramirez said. “I’m hoping I’m not doing this all for northing as hurricane season is coming in a couple of months.”
Repeated insurance denials, delays on appeal
Aldahonda-Ramirez stood in her Honeytree Drive East home in January surrounded by bare floors and sheetrock walls. She and her renter, Courtney Kraft, were mixing a bowl of joint compound for “mudding,” filling gaps between pieces of sheetrock blocking a glimpse of Little Lake Bonny.
“It’s, it’s hard. It’s very, very hard,” Aldahonda-Ramirez said looking around.
To date, Aldahonda-Ramirez said she’s received about $20,000 between the Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency toward rebuilding her home gutted after Lake Bonny’s flooding. Of that, only $9,400 can legally be used to fix her home and its infrastructure. “[My husband wanted me to give up my house and walk away,” she said. “I have the mortgage in my name. I have to figure this out.”
Aldahonda-Ramirez said she spent roughly two months awaiting a response from her homeowner’s insurance, Citizens Property Insurance, for damages from Milton. When she finally received a denial, it came with notification that she was being dropped. Aldahonda-Ramirez was one of the thousands of homeowners offloaded last year by Florida’s insurer of last resort, who she said now refuses to return her calls.
“It was a joke. I have a lawyer and I’m suing them,” she said.
Lake Bonny residents are finding their applications and subsequent appeals delayed for months.
Chad Smith, a Lake Bonny Drive East homeowner, and his wife similarly had their first FEMA aid application denied as their house was inaccessible because of floodwaters. A second inspection was performed in late October, and the couple has yet to hear a response.
Wells, who has filed an appeal with FEMA to cover repairs to her foundation, said she was told to expect to wait approximately six to eight months for an answer.
She and her husband, Chris, have chosen to hire a private inspector to simultaneously put pressure on her flood insurance provider to cover the foundation under the contract terms
FEMA inspectors have come out to Aldahonda-Ramirez’s home five times in the past four months. After the first inspection, her claim was immediately denied as inspectors were not permitted to wade through floodwaters to enter her home.
“Everyone was denied and everyone had to file an appeal,” she said. “It should have never happened.”
Upon a second inspection, paperwork shows the Honeytree Drive home was listed as having been affected at the lowest damage level and FEMA issued her a check.
“They gave me $9,400 to fix my house, my whole house. My entire house for $9,400,” she said.
Upon calling and speaking with a FEMA representative, Aldahonda-Ramirez said a review of the paperwork indicated the damages described by the inspector didn’t match with the rating given, and third inspector was sent to home on Dec. 8.
Nearly two months later, her third FEMA home inspection remains pending with the paperwork unprocessed.
Confused, lost in an endless sea of red tape
While Wells was told by FEMA to expect up to eight months for an answer on her recent appeal, there’s lingering doubt cast as to whether she’s filed with the right agency.
“My flood insurance officially denied covering the foundation of the house,” she said. “They told me to appeal straight to FEMA, but they said you can’t appeal straight to us.”
The National Flood Insurance Program is managed by FEMA, according to the agency’s website, but homeowners much purchase a policy through a third-party agent or company. Each company can set its own terms and conditions, Wells said.
This issue has come up in attempting to address her home’s septic system. Wells said her flood insurance said it doesn’t address septic issues, while FEMA representatives have told her “it should” and she needs to get an official denial letter stating the flood insurer won’t cover.
“It doesn’t make sense to me,” Wells said. “When it all comes from FEMA, why not go through FEMA for everything rather than having to go through a middle man?”
Wells and her husband hope the private inspector they’ve hired can work with their flood insurance in attempt to recover more funds. They are pursuing this path simultaneously to the FEMA appeal, hoping to speed up the recovery process.
There’s one major concern: FEMA’s dreaded 50% rule. If damages incurred to a building exceed 50% of its market value, repairs are limited until the entire structure is brought into compliance with current flood regulations. Often, this means elevating the house.
Wells’ home is one of the only properties around Lake Bonny that is still deemed to be in a designated FEMA flood zone. The widespread flood zone designation over the area was lifted in 2016.
Who determines the 50% rule? Wells said she’s inquired and was told it’s Polk County that will have to make the final decision.
“The county doesn’t have a clue what’s going on,” she said.
If she can secure funds to fix her foundation, Wells and her husband are fearful once they start pulling permits for repairs they will be told their house exceeds FEMA’s 50% rule and have to start the process all over again.
Stress taking its toll on families
The stress of rebuilding after Hurricane Milton is taking its toll on Lake Bonny residents and their families.
Aldahonda-Ramirez said she and her husband have differing viewpoints on how best to move forward, leading ultimately to a decision to divorce.
Several houses on her block have demolition debris, including torn sheetrock or siding, sitting in piles around the building. One home has a storage POD parked in the driveway. It’s clear several homes remain uninhabited months after Milton.
Two of her neighboring properties have been sold off to an investor, Aldahonda-Ramirez said, as a mother-daughter pair chose to walk away rather than deal with the painful process of rebuilding.
Wells said she, her husband and 14-year-old daughter are grateful to have the camper they were attempting to sell off pre-Milton. It’s a small space shared with two dogs and two cats.
“It gets a little bit smaller every day,” Chris Wells said with a laugh. The couple said they are concerned about spending the upcoming summer months in the camper that has minimal protection from scorching heat.
“There’s no doors, no curtains, no nothing. There’s no privacy,” Misty Wells said.
Living in a camper, the Wells family won’t be safe if they can’t rebuild before the upcoming hurricane season. Yet, Misty Wells said she hasn’t even considered moving.
“We just want the City [of Lakeland] and county to the the right thing,” she said.
Alice J. Roden started working for Trending Insurance News at the end of 2021. Alice grew up in Salt Lake City, UT. A writer with a vast insurance industry background Alice has help with several of the biggest insurance companies. Before joining Trending Insurance News, Alice briefly worked as a freelance journalist for several radio stations. She covers home, renters and other property insurance stories.