On the evening of April 12, 2023, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport recorded 25.91 inches of rain in roughly 12 hours, a 1-in-1,000-year rainfall event and the city's wettest day on record, shattering a mark that had stood since 1979. NOAA put total damage at $1.1 billion. The airport closed for about two days, canceling more than 1,100 flights, and Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue fielded over 900 calls in a single night while a shopping center roof gave way under the water.
Fort Lauderdale's mix of postwar single-family homes and coastal condo towers absorbed a 1-in-1,000-year rain event in 2023, and Coyne Commercial Group represents the homeowners, condominium and HOA associations, and commercial property owners still working through what it left behind, from first inspection through final settlement. We work Broward County and neighboring Miami-Dade and Palm Beach on a contingency basis: no recovery, no fee.
Fort Lauderdale's property stock runs from 1970s-era single-family homes that make up a large share of the city's current housing inventory to coastal condo towers now facing the same statewide inspection and assessment pressure reshaping South Florida. The city's own preservation plan flags older homes as more physically vulnerable to today's weather risks, which is exactly the argument carriers reach for when a claim is not backed by documentation.
What Fort Lauderdale property owners have been through.
Fort Lauderdale flood
A 1-in-1,000-year rainfall event dropped 25.91 inches of rain at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in roughly 12 hours, the city's wettest day on record. Total damage was estimated at $1.1 billion. The airport closed for roughly two days, canceling 1,119 or more flights and affecting 64,000 passengers, more than 900 calls came into Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue, a shopping center roof collapsed, over 22,000 power outages were reported, and a federal disaster declaration followed on April 28, 2023.
Tropical Storm Eta
Eta brought a regional South Florida flooding event, with more than 13 inches of rain falling across parts of the area over roughly two days.
Hurricane Irma
Irma pushed storm surge slightly greater than 3 feet along the Broward coastline from Hallandale Beach to Fort Lauderdale, with one hurricane-force gust of 76 mph recorded at Seminole Tribe headquarters in Hollywood. Broward County logged 38,836 insurance claims.
University of Florida historic-preservation research documents a "very definite shortage" of postwar housing built between 1945 and 1975 in Fort Lauderdale for low- and middle-income families during the city's building-boom era, and homes from that 1970s wave still account for a large share of the city's current housing inventory. The City of Fort Lauderdale's own Strategic Historic Preservation Plan references older homes as more physically vulnerable to Southeast Florida's climate risks, a characterization carriers are quick to lean on when disputing a claim.
Much of that older stock is also reported to carry original cast-iron plumbing, common in South Florida homes built before 1975 and prone to corrosion with age, though that figure traces to a single industry source rather than a government count. Along the coast, Fort Lauderdale's condo towers sit under the same statewide SB 4-D structural inspection and reserve-funding rules driving assessments and premium increases across South Florida's condo market.
Broward County Citizens Property Insurance policies fell 56 percent year over year in 2025 data, part of a broader four-county Southeast Florida decline as the state's insurer of last resort sheds policies faster than most private carriers want to absorb them. Broward homeowners increasingly find themselves on newer private policies with shorter local track records.
Statewide condo master-policy premiums have risen roughly 102 percent over three years according to the Insurance Information Institute, and Broward's coastal towers are subject to the same SB 4-D milestone inspection and reserve-funding requirements driving six-figure special assessments elsewhere in South Florida. Between an insurance market in flux and a large share of the city's housing stock flagged by its own preservation plan as vulnerable, Fort Lauderdale owners are navigating a claims environment where undocumented damage rarely gets paid in full.
What decides a commercial, condo, or HOA claim in Fort Lauderdale.
A record flood still needs a building-wide scope
Water at record-breaking depth does not damage every unit or every system the same way. Ground-floor units, mechanical rooms, garages, and common areas each need their own documented assessment, and a claim scoped from a sample of the building rather than the whole property tends to settle short.
Assessment pressure raises the stakes on every insurance dollar
With statewide condo premiums up roughly 102 percent over three years and SB 4-D inspection and reserve-funding requirements now in force, Broward associations are managing costs from every direction. A fully documented insurance claim for a covered flood, wind, or water loss recovers dollars the association would otherwise have to raise through assessment.
Loss of rents and business interruption are their own claim
While units, offices, or commercial space sat unusable after the 2023 flood or a later storm event, the income the property stopped earning is generally a separate covered loss with its own documentation. On Broward association and commercial claims, it is frequently the most under-claimed line item on the file.
What decides a homeowner claim in Fort Lauderdale.
A record rain event still requires a documented claim
The April 2023 flood was a 1-in-1,000-year event, but the scale of the storm does not file the paperwork. Carriers process record-breaking events at high volume, and a claim without clear documentation of the water level, the duration, and the resulting damage can get processed as quickly, and as thinly, as any smaller claim.
Older homes fight a "vulnerable by design" argument
When a claim comes from a 1970s-era home in a neighborhood the city's own preservation plan has flagged as more vulnerable to weather risk, carriers sometimes lean on that general characterization to attribute damage to age or pre-existing condition rather than the specific storm event. Detailed, dated documentation of the loss is what counters that argument.
Cast-iron and plumbing failures need their own evidence trail
In older Fort Lauderdale homes, some reported to carry original cast-iron plumbing, a pipe failure can trigger a dispute over whether the damage was a sudden, covered event or gradual wear the carrier is not obligated to pay. That distinction is decided by documented evidence, not by the age of the home alone.
Fort Lauderdale owners, boards, and managers: what they ask us.
Our association's claim from the April 2023 flood is still unresolved. Is that normal?
Unfortunately common on a loss of that scale. Large, building-wide flood claims involving mechanical systems, common areas, and dozens of units routinely take years to fully resolve when contested. If the claim was timely reported and remains open or disputed, a documented re-scope and, where appropriate, appraisal or attorney referral can move it. We review association claims free.
Does the association or the unit owners file after a flood like April 2023?
Generally both, though a flood on the scale of April 2023 tends to hit shared systems, elevators, garages, and mechanical rooms nearly as hard as individual units. The association is generally responsible for those shared systems and common areas, while owners file separately for their own unit interiors. Because water at that depth rarely respects those boundaries cleanly, a single building-wide documentation effort tends to serve both filings better than treating them apart.
Can we recover the rent we lost while a property was down for repairs?
Generally yes. With hundreds of businesses and residences affected by the April 2023 flood at once, from flooded ground-floor retail to homes waiting weeks on repairs, lost rental and business income was one of the most commonly shortchanged pieces of the claim. It requires its own documentation, separate from the property repair estimate, built from what the space was actually earning before the water came in.
What does a presentation for our board or management company look like?
Thirty to forty-five minutes, in person or over lunch: what a public adjuster does, what Florida law requires of carriers, how associations protect themselves before and after a loss, and what proper documentation looks like. No cost and no obligation, and boards are welcome to bring their property manager and counsel.
We think our April 2023 flood settlement was too low. Is it too late to do anything?
It depends on when the claim was reported and where it stands now. Florida law set strict windows for new and supplemental claims, and for a claim from 2023 much of that window has passed. If your claim was timely reported and is still open or in dispute, options such as appraisal or a referral to a property insurance attorney may remain. We review it free and tell you honestly where things stand.
Our home is in an older neighborhood the city calls "vulnerable." Does that hurt our claim?
It should not, but carriers sometimes use general characterizations about a neighborhood or building era to argue damage is pre-existing rather than storm-related. A documented, dated record of the specific damage from the specific event is what keeps a legitimate claim from being written off as age or maintenance.
The carrier says our pipe failure was wear and tear, not a covered loss. Now what?
That is one of the most common disputes on claims involving older plumbing. Sudden pipe failures and gradual corrosion look different on inspection, and documented evidence of the failure, ideally close in time to when it happened, is what separates a paid claim from a denied one.
Do you handle claims across Broward County, not just the city of Fort Lauderdale?
Yes. We serve all of Broward County, including Hollywood, Hallandale Beach, and the surrounding communities, plus neighboring Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Collier, and Hendry counties.
General information only, not legal advice or a coverage determination. Coverage depends on your specific policy, the facts of your loss, and current Florida law.
General information only, not legal advice or a coverage determination. Coverage depends on your specific policy, the facts of your loss, and current Florida law.
Who we represent in Fort Lauderdale.
Homeowners
Hurricane, wind, water, mold, and fire claims on Fort Lauderdale homes, documented and pursued for full value.
Residential claims →Associations, Boards & Operators
Master-policy, common-element, and large-loss commercial claims for Fort Lauderdale condominiums, HOAs, and multifamily operators.
Commercial claims →Claim types we handle in Fort Lauderdale.
Claim guides for Fort Lauderdale property owners
Plain-English answers from a Florida licensed public adjuster on the claim questions Fort Lauderdale homeowners, boards, and commercial owners ask most.
Second Opinion on Your Insurance Settlement in FL | CCG
A second opinion on your Florida insurance settlement can confirm you are getting what your policy owes, or show you what the insurer missed. Get a free review from Coyne Commercial Group before you sign.
Read the guide →Emergency Mitigation After a Loss: Duties Clause | CCG
Your insurance policy requires emergency mitigation after a loss, but there's a right way and a wrong way to do it. Here's what Florida's duties clause actually asks of you, and how to protect your claim while you protect your property.
Read the guide →Insurance Bad Faith in Florida: What It Means | CCG
Learn what insurance bad faith means under Florida law, the warning signs after a denied or underpaid claim, and how a well-documented public adjuster claim file supports you either way.
Read the guide →A CAM's Guide to Proof of Loss in Florida | CCG Sanford
A community association manager carries real responsibility for the proof of loss form. Here is what every Florida CAM needs to get right.
Read the guide →King tide flood claims (September 2026)/Water damage claims/Condo and HOA boards/All claim guides/Public adjuster FAQ
Book a claims-readiness presentation in Fort Lauderdale.
A 30 to 45 minute lunch-and-learn for your board, management team, or office: what Florida law requires of carriers, how associations and operators protect themselves before and after a loss, and what proper documentation looks like. No cost, no obligation.
Serving Broward County and the surrounding Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Collier, Hendry county area.
Book a Presentation
James calls you back the same day.
Property damage in Fort Lauderdale? Start with a free review.
James reviews every submission personally and responds within 24 hours. No obligation, and no fee unless we recover for you.
← All service areasReport Your Claim
We respond within 24 hours.