Boca Raton storm & claim resource

Boca Raton has ridden out the same century of Palm Beach County storms — the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane’s core crossed the county, Frances and Jeanne came ashore just up the coast in 2004, Wilma raked the region in 2005, and Irma forced a countywide evacuation in 2017. On a city that runs from oceanfront to canal-laced interior, the resulting claims raise the hardest question in Florida property insurance: which storm, and which peril, owes for the damage?

What Boca Raton claims turn on

Surge is flood, and flood is excluded from every homeowners policy — it needs NFIP or private flood coverage. Wind is covered, behind a hurricane deductible that is a percentage of the home’s insured value, not the loss. The beachfront and Intracoastal lots flood from surge and tidal backup, while the interior communities flood from rain and canal overflow — so the same storm can trigger separate wind and flood claims, and the two carriers each point at the other. In Boca’s many condos and gated HOAs, the unit-owner policy and the association master policy add a third line to the dispute.

The law here

Florida gives you one year from the date of loss to give notice of a hurricane claim and 18 months for a supplemental claim (§ 627.70132, as amended by SB 2-A in 2023), and the carrier must pay or deny within 60 days of a complete proof of loss (§ 627.70131). For storms that are already years past, those notice windows have generally closed — but a claim you already filed that was denied or underpaid can still have options, and the deadline to sue on a filed claim is longer. These are general figures — confirm the current statutes and your own dates with counsel before relying on them.