C.J. Braden • 4 Minute Read
Our Hurricane Ian Story Part 2
Update: 12/30/22: We no longer recommend Tailored Loss Consultants (or the public adjuster Chad Schmitt).
We are posting videos of our home and Sanibel post Hurricane via our TikTok account @carolynjbraden Follow our visual story there by clicking here.
Everyone has a story to tell about their life. I’ve written about my life up until this point on my website for many years. I learn from other people’s stories, so maybe someone out there can learn from ours. In this ongoing blog post or journal, I will be documenting our Hurricane Ian story. Hurricane Ian hit our home on Sanibel Island on September 28th, 2022, and due to the catastrophic destruction, it will be a long journey back.
Read on to continue learning about our Hurricane Ian evacuation story, our experience working with a public adjuster, how our 1978 house held up and more. For those that would like to hear our story, we’ve included our weekly video VLOGS as well.
Week Seven: November 7 - November 14th
The Hurricane Ian Insurance Process Starts
Our Hurricane Ian YouTube video VLOG: Week 7
Insurance finally made it out to our house on Wednesday, November 9th, 2002, exactly six weeks after Hurricane Ian. We learned that insurance has 90 days (from when they received our initial claim) to get our claims settled, which is a Florida thing. This type of information may differ in each state. We have been asked to gather our initial receipts for all expenses by our public adjuster so he can give them to our insurance.
Snow makes this American Eskimo happy
If you ever have to evacuate due to some emergency, ensure you keep every receipt and track every expense during your time away from your home for insurance purposes. I know this may be the last thing on your mind, but we highly recommend you do this. You will need documentation on many levels for the sake of insurance reimbursement.
Snowballs formed on Johnny Cash’s long fur
We now begin the long process of getting estimates, bids and finding good people to work with to get our house back to a livable state. After our whole impact window buying experience of trying to find a good price and reliable companies to work with, we know many try to take advantage of people during crises times like Hurricane Ian. It’s unfortunate, but it happens. We know to trust our instincts and do our best to check prices and not be a victim of a scam situation.
Carolyn and Tommy Braden in the cold Indiana snow
While we are working full-time and trying to balance our Hurricane Ian situation, we are now seven weeks in and it is cold in Indiana! It snowed about 3 inches in Sellersburg Indiana on Saturday, November 12, 2022. Our dogs loved it.
American Eskimo’s have lots of fun in the snow!
Johnny Cash was only 6 months old when we left Louisville Kentucky and moved to Sanibel, so he had only experienced flurries as a tiny puppy. With the 3 inches it snowed, he chased snowballs, leapt into and had so much fun. The numerous snowballs that attached to their long fur was worth it!
Carolyn Braden wearing favorite Keith Haring Member’s Only Jacket
Between working and getting lots of estimates for our home’s damage, we’ve been experimenting this week with Starlink internet. There is still no internet on Sanibel Island and the date for internet returning keeps getting pushed out later and later. We were first told December 2022, now we are being told January 2023.
With us both needing reliable internet for work (we do have plans to return to Sanibel in the near future), we ordered Starlink and have been very pleased with it so far. Starlink is a satellite-based internet by SpaceX. We ordered the RV version as we plan to return to Sanibel in an RV so we can still have a place to live/work while our house repairs are being completed.
Watch our 3 minute video about Starlink below or watch it on our YouTube channel @carolynjbraden
One thing I know for sure, at being involved in this situation for 7 weeks now, is this: Make sure you lean on others when you need to. The song Lean On Me is singing in my head along with “Don’t Worry Be Happy”. We have been spending whatever free time we have with friends, family and our fur family. There is no shame in anything “bad” that happens to you in life.
We are here to lean on each other in good times and in bad and everyone needs to remember that. If you know of anyone experiencing a tough situation, call them, offer them help (even your time is valuable to someone in need) or do what you feel called to do. It truly can make a difference in someone’s life.
Week Eight: November 14 - November 21st
Hurricane Ian Week 8 Buying an RV
Our Hurricane Ian YouTube video VLOG: Week 8
At eight weeks in, we still have not received any money from our insurance company. While we understand the impact of the large area affected by Hurricane Ian, we are very disappointed in insurance and FEMA. FEMA still hasn’t been to our house for any inspections. We contacted the Florida Congressman’s office (currently Byron Donalds) to help us with FEMA, and he did help get FEMA to finally call us, so at least that’s something.
Minnie Pearl and Johnny Cash on the bridge to Rose Island
Our flood insurance started all the paper work, as they impressively made it to the house very early in our process. We still have no money from them, but they were much better than our wind/main insurer as far as speed. The flood insurance is through the government, so they have been faster than a non-government insurance like our wind company. Our wind company keeps sending us apology emails, but no checks. Nice…
Thank goodness for our pets to keep us smiling
As I’ve written before, we’ve saved every single receipt and tracked every expense. For easy conversion of paper receipts into PDF’s, I recommend the app Adobe Scan. I have it on my iPhone and it’s been a great way to make digital copies of documents. It’s free way to scan 25 documents at a time.
We are thankful for our friendships
At the request of our public adjuster, we’ve created a large Excel document with different tabs to track our gas, mileage, food expenses and more. This is something you should do in order to justify spending to many insurance companies. They are still putting together our claim (it’s been two weeks since they’ve been to our house), but if they come back with numbers less than we spent, we will have documentation to put in front of them to show their estimates are too low, if need be. You deserve to have your house put back together at your insurer’s expense. You pay into it, and they need to be there when you need them. Period. Remember that.
The delicious cream puff at Little Mount Lavender
My organization skills have played a big role in our entire Hurricane Ian experience. From what I packed during our evacuation to tracking expenses and more, it’s been helpful. It’s also been helpful having my husband be a Data Analytics professional, as he knows how to look at data and organize it to be understandable.
Still trying to feel and look fabulous at Rose Island
If you are ever faced with a situation similar to ours, I highly recommend you buy an accordion file like we did to hold all your receipts and more. We also use a bill pay checklist to write out when our payments are due to keep us organized. We have made all our bills be payable online over the last 10 years or so, and it’s been very helpful.
The history that welcomes you at Rose Island
We still have to make a house payment and pay our bills (yes, even in a situation like ours, companies like cell phone carriers, cable, internet, water and more may make you continue to pay) so having a list to track when bills are due when you are away from your home is very important. We have had our mail forwarded temporarily to Tommy’s parents’ house, but when forwarded, some bill payment forms could arrive later than usual, so you need to track payments yourself.
Historical documents at Rose Island
We are still trying to be patient, but have decided to take some of our savings and purchase an RV. Years ago, we had plans to sell our house and buy an RV to travel for a while. Then COVID-19 hit, and with many RV parks closing due to COVID, we decided having a home base, like a house, was what we needed to do instead. So, we sold our home, bought our Sanibel Island home, and put the RV on hold.
We did buy a car that could be towed behind an RV though, and have held onto the car for several years. We call it “Larry the Lincoln” and are happy to announce that Larry will fulfill his destiny of being towed behind an RV soon.
We know we will need to safely get back to our Florida home soon, as we are starting to get more and more estimates for house repairs, and it’s difficult to do at a distance. We’ll need a quiet and safe space to work and live in while our floors, drywall, doors, roof, siding and more are repaired, and being on our property in an RV is the best choice we can think of for us and our pets.
More historical documents from Rose Island
We also know it’s been extremely cold in Indiana (in the 20’s and 30’s recently), and we would like to spend the colder months in Sanibel’s warmer January climates. Captiva and Sanibel continue to work to repair the island, but there have been setbacks. More golf carts caught on fire over the weekend in the Dunes neighborhood and Red Tide is causing respiratory stress on people and animals in the area. More and more birds and sea life are getting very ill and some are dying due to Red Tide.
The Rose Island pool still exists
We’ve been in contact with our neighbors and told them of our plans to return in December or January. One thing I know for sure is this: If you ever move to a new neighborhood or area, meet your neighbors as soon as you can. I got names and phone numbers as soon as we moved to Sanibel. I established relationships with as many neighbors as I could, as I knew it was going to be important at some point. When you move to an area without family close by, you need to connect with others. They may need your help and you may need theirs at some point.
We have completely enjoyed our time in Indiana, and have spent more time with friends and family. We continue to receive cards, donations, prayers and more and are eternally grateful. This is another reason why connections are good. True human connection is the key to your past, present and future. Our future is brighter looking to me because I know I have amazing connections that will always help lift me up. Despite insurance seeming to keep our life on hold, we will continue to move forward. One way or another.
The Rose Island Dance Hall
We love to travel and go on adventures. Over the weekend, we drove to Charlestown State Park and visited a very cool place called Rose Island. It was a vacation destination destroyed by a major flood in 1937 and never rebuilt. It still has some landmarks present and is an extremely interesting place to visit.
The Great Flood of 1937 destroyed Rose Island
Seeing the photos of the destroyed Rose Island were similar to what I saw in the Hurricane Ian damage to Sanibel. I felt pulled to visit the location while we were in Indiana, and despite the tragedy of the once happy place being destroyed, I still felt incredible happy vibes from the area. I hope I feel those same happy vibes when I return to Sanibel, despite the destruction.
Our Hurricane Ian story continues…
Click here for Part One of our Hurricane Ian story, which tells about our experience in weeks 1-6.
Click here for part two of our Hurricane Ian Story, which tells about our experience in weeks 7-8.
Click here for part three of our story in week 9-10.
Click here for part four of our story in weeks 11-14.
Click here for part 5 of our story in weeks 15-18.
C.J. (Carolyn) Braden is a regular contributor and editor for Carolyn’s Blooming Creations. She has been featured in numerous media publications such as InStyle Magazine, on HGTV, on Bustle.com, and more. She is the author of the books Georgia McMasters in Amethyst Lake Cemetery, How To Be Yourself: 3 Ways To Help You Being You, and the illustrator for the children’s book Bridging Connections. She is a former classroom teacher that now dedicates her life to educating others on how to live their most healthy, creative and happy life. Learn more about her visiting our About Us page.