West Palm Beach storm & claim resource

West Palm Beach took the direct landfall of the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane, a storm whose lake-surge death toll ranks among the worst in U.S. history. Frances and Jeanne both came ashore just up the coast in 2004, Wilma crossed the county in 2005, Matthew paralleled the coast in 2016, and Irma forced a countywide evacuation in 2017. On a city wedged between the Lake Worth Lagoon and the Everglades, the resulting claims raise the hardest question in Florida property insurance: which storm, and which peril, owes for the damage?

What West Palm Beach 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 waterfront value along Flagler Drive and the Intracoastal floods from surge and tidal backup, while western neighborhoods 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. On the downtown and waterfront condos, 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.