Hurricane Florence continues to devastate Carolina residents as costs to repair nearly 759,000 homes exceed $170 billion dollars. As if the emotional devastation of surviving a major hurricane isn’t enough, residents are now faced with the overbearing financial woes of a category four storm. Least financially affected by Flo is Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Elizabeth City endured damage to an estimated 31,166 homes and is currently facing nearly $6.55 billion dollars in repairs. Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, on the other hand, is facing $16.44 billion dollars worth of repairs in order to restore nearly 93,660 homes back to order.
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Among the highest of repair, bills in Virginia. The Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News area will shell out over $79.93 billion dollars in order to repair an estimated 346,573 homes.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors is hard at work appealing to Congress for a long-term re-authorization of the National Flood Insurance Program as this is the only option on an insurance level that would benefit suffering homeowners. Congress has historically denied long-term renewals regardless of the fact that most taxpayers, homeowners, and communities are in desperate need of such protection.
Insurance companies continue to brace themselves as losses have the potential to cost them one-quarter’s earnings. Companies that are likely to be most affected include RenaissanceReHoldings, Travelers, Berkshire Hathaway, Everest Re Group, Allstate, Chubb, and Arch Capital.