Jacksonville storm & claim resource

Jacksonville is built around the St. Johns River, a broad tidal river that bends through the city on its way to the Atlantic — which means much of the flood risk here comes from the river backing up, not just the beaches. Hurricane Dora struck near here in 1964, the storm older residents still measure others against. Decades later, Matthew (2016) and Irma (2017) each drove record St. Johns River flooding into San Marco, Riverside, and downtown. Storms like these raise the hardest question in Florida property insurance: which storm, and which peril, owes for the damage?

What Jacksonville claims turn on

River surge and rain flooding are 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 home is both flooded and wind-damaged, the wind carrier and the flood carrier each point at the other. Because so much Jacksonville damage is water from the St. Johns rather than wind, the flood-versus-wind line is where these claims are won or lost.

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.