Bradenton storm & claim resource

Bradenton sits where the Manatee River widens into the lower reaches of Tampa Bay, with Palma Sola Bay and the barrier sound to the west. When Milton made landfall at Siesta Key just to the south in October 2024, and when Ian crossed the coast below in 2022, surge pushed up the river and into the low riverfront and west-end neighborhoods. Homes that took water below and wind above raise the hardest question in Florida property insurance: which storm, and which peril, owes for the damage?

What Bradenton 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. When a riverfront or bayside home floods and is also wind-damaged, the flood carrier and the wind carrier each point at the other. Where two storms hit the same property, insurers also argue over which one caused what — an allocation fight that can close a claim without payment.

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.