Hurricane Irma Claims Public Adjuster in Florida
Hurricane Irma, September 2017. Serving the Florida Keys, Miami, Naples, and statewide.
Hurricane Irma struck the Florida Keys in September 2017 and raked the entire peninsula, causing damage from Monroe County to Jacksonville and producing one of the largest claim volumes the state had ever handled.
Years on, some Irma losses were never fully resolved. Where the deadlines still allow it, we can review whether anything remains recoverable and document the damage that was originally overlooked.
What the National Hurricane Center recorded
From Irma’s official Tropical Cyclone Report. Note that Irma hit Florida twice, at two different intensities, which is why claims from the Keys and from the southwest coast look nothing alike.
- Irma was a long-lived Cape Verde hurricane that reached category 5 intensity and made seven landfalls in total.
- It made landfall near Cudjoe Key in the lower Florida Keys around 1300 UTC on 10 September 2017 with maximum winds of 115 kt and a minimum pressure of 931 mb, a category 4 hurricane.
- It then struck southwestern Florida at category 3 intensity, making landfall near Marco Island at 1930 UTC on 10 September.
- Irma’s large wind field produced significant surge flooding on the northeastern coast of Florida, with a maximum of 3 to 5 ft of inundation above ground level from Cape Canaveral north to the Florida-Georgia border.
- Irma produced 25 tornadoes, 21 of them in Florida: 3 rated EF-2, 15 EF-1 and 7 EF-0, mostly along the east coast of central and northern Florida.
Why Irma claims are still surfacing
Irma was a statewide event in a way most storms are not. Because the wind field was so large, owners hundreds of miles from either landfall took real damage, and many of those claims were adjusted at the tail end of an overwhelmed season by adjusters flown in from out of state.
The damage that goes unnoticed in that environment is consistent: roof damage that did not leak until the following rainy season, envelope failures that showed up as interior staining a year later, and mold that developed inside walls that were never opened.
The Keys and the southwest coast are different claims
Cudjoe Key took 115 kt winds. Marco Island took a category 3 landfall six and a half hours later. The northeast coast took 3 to 5 ft of surge from a storm whose center never came near it. Those are three different loss profiles under one storm name, and an estimate written from a generic hurricane template will fit none of them.
In the Keys, marine and dock exposure, elevated construction and total-loss thresholds dominate. On the southwest coast it is surge against wind. On the Atlantic side it is surge and tornado damage far from the track. See marine claims if a vessel or dock was involved.
Be realistic about the timeline
We will not tell you an Irma claim is straightforward. September 2017 is a long way back, and for most owners the statutory notice windows closed years ago. What is sometimes still live is a claim that was reported on time and never properly resolved, or a dispute that falls inside the five-year window for an action on the policy measured from the date of loss.
The honest answer requires the dates and the file. If nothing is recoverable we will tell you that in the first conversation rather than after an inspection.
Irma claim deadlines
Before you conclude a storm this old is closed for good: Florida bars a claim or reopened claim unless notice was given within 1 year after the date of loss, and a supplemental claim unless notice was given within 18 months after the date of loss, with the date of loss for a hurricane fixed at landfall. Those windows arrived with the December 2022 special session and are shorter than the ones that applied to earlier storms, so which version governs depends on your date of loss. Separately, an action for breach of a property insurance contract must be brought within five years of the date of loss. Do not assume either way. Bring us the date and we will work out where you actually stand.
Hurricane Irma claims: common questions
Can I still file anything on Hurricane Irma in 2026?
For most owners, no. Irma made landfall in September 2017, and the statutory windows for giving notice of a claim, a reopened claim or a supplemental claim have long since run for a loss of that age. What can still be live is a claim that was reported on time and never resolved. Bring the dates and the correspondence and we will give you a straight answer rather than an inspection.
Why do Keys claims and Naples claims from the same storm look so different?
Because Irma hit Florida twice. It came ashore near Cudjoe Key in the lower Keys with maximum winds of 115 kt, then made a second Florida landfall near Marco Island at category 3 intensity later the same day. Different intensity, different construction stock, and in the Keys a heavy marine and elevated-structure exposure that does not exist inland.
My Irma damage did not appear until much later. Does that matter?
It matters a great deal, and not in your favor on a storm this old. Latent damage is real and common after wind events, but Florida measures the notice deadlines from the date of loss, not from the date you discovered the damage. That is why documenting a roof after a storm, even one that is not leaking, protects you later.
Counties we serve for Hurricane Irma claims
Monroe · Miami-Dade · Collier · Broward, and property owners statewide across Florida.
City pages for this area: Key West, Marathon, Marco Island, Naples.
Other Disasters Related to Hurricane Irma
Sources
- NHC Tropical Cyclone Report: Hurricane Irma (AL112017)Landfall intensities, surge and tornado figures.
- Fla. Stat. s. 627.70132, Notice of property insurance claimSets the 1-year and 18-month notice deadlines, and fixes a hurricane date of loss at landfall.
- Fla. Stat. s. 95.11, Limitations other than for the recovery of real propertyFive years for breach of a property insurance contract, running from the date of loss.
Reopen your Hurricane Irma claim.
A free review from a licensed Florida public adjuster could recover thousands the carrier left unpaid.