SCCA Member Flood Claim Checklist: Space Coast Condo Boards After the October King Tides

Short answer

What a Space Coast board should do this week

If your building is on the barrier island or the river and took tidal water on October 26 to 28, that is a flood claim under the association's RCBAP or private flood policy, and the signed and sworn proof of loss for an October 27 loss is due December 26, 2026. If your building is on the mainland and took water on November 2, water that rose from the ground is also flood, and it also belongs to a flood policy if the association has one. Rain that came in through a roof, window, or wall opening is a property policy claim. Give written notice to every carrier that could be involved, photograph the waterlines before cleanup, and bring this list to your next board meeting.

1. 01Decide which event hit you: tide (October 26 to 28), rain (November 2), or both. Write the dates down. Each is its own date of loss.
2. 02Send written notice to the flood carrier for any water that rose from the ground, the river, or the ocean. Send written notice to the property carrier for anything that came through the building envelope or anything wind did.
3. 03Photograph every waterline with a tape measure in frame. On the beach side, photograph the dune line, the crossover, the seawall, the pool deck, the slab edges, and any exposed footings or utilities.
4. 04Build the below-grade equipment list: switchgear, panels, elevator machinery and pits, pumps, water heaters, HVAC, fire pump, generators, fuel tanks, with model and serial numbers.
5. 05Get written findings from a licensed electrician, the elevator contractor, and for erosion, a structural engineer.
6. 06Calendar the proof of loss deadline: December 26 for October 27 tide losses, January 1, 2027 for November 2 rain losses under an NFIP policy.
7. 07Put the flood on the agenda for the November 18 SCCA meeting and your own next board meeting.

What happened in Brevard, October 26 to November 2

• October 26 to 28, king tides with onshore wind. NOAA's verified data for Trident Pier at Port Canaveral shows 3.04 feet above mean higher high water at 9:00 AM on October 27, with readings above 3.0 feet on all three mornings. News 6 reported the event as the highest non-tropical water level recorded at the station since it was established in 1994, higher than Hurricane Ian's 2.9 feet.
• Satellite Beach closed every beach crossover on October 25 and 26 after the surf cut steep cliffs into the dune. The county's beaches program manager has said Satellite Beach erodes worst because an offshore coquina rock habitat keeps it out of the large sand renourishment projects its neighbors get.
• Melbourne Beach: the surf pulled enough sand from under the Melbourne Beach Resort on A1A that its ocean-facing deck and stairs collapsed. The county plans to assess beach damage and ask for federal help with 2027 renourishment.
• Indian River Drive on the mainland: lagoon water came up through the storm drains and onto the road during the high tides, leaving saltwater-damaged vehicles. The county has called a permanent fix for that stretch financially infeasible.
• Cocoa Beach asked customers to limit water use because heavy rain overwhelmed the city's wastewater system.
• November 2, rain. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency for Palm Bay and West Melbourne at 7:56 AM. Melbourne's airport had 13 inches by mid-afternoon, preliminary reports called it the wettest day on record there, and the county's emergency management director put south Brevard totals at 15 to 20 inches and north Brevard, including Mims and Titusville, at 5 to 8 inches. He called it "borderline historic."
• Brevard Public Schools closed November 2 and 3. Health First cancelled elective surgeries on November 2, and Palm Bay Hospital's elective surgeries were cancelled all day November 3. The Supervisor of Elections moved several Melbourne and Palm Bay precincts for Election Day.
• Governor DeSantis signed Executive Order 26-227 on November 2 declaring a state of emergency for Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, Highlands, Hardee, and DeSoto counties for the October 31 to November 2 rain system. As of November 2 there is no Presidential major disaster declaration, which is what FEMA Individual Assistance requires.

Phase 1. Day 0: safety, shutoffs, and the incident log

• Keep people out of flooded electrical rooms and elevator pits until a licensed electrician clears them. De-energize submerged panels and switchgear.
• Take elevators out of service if the pit or machine room took water. Call the elevator contractor before anyone restores service.
• On the beach side, keep residents off damaged crossovers, decks, and stairs. If the dune has been cut back to the building or the pool deck, rope it off and call a structural engineer. Undermined slabs can fail days after the water goes down.
• Start an incident log: when water entered, how high, when it receded, who was called, who came. Note the tide and the rain separately if you had both.
• Save the NOAA Trident Pier readings and the news coverage for your dates as PDFs. They are the independent record of what hit the building.

Phase 2. Written notice: which carrier gets which event

The RCBAP says you must "give prompt written notice to us." Email is fine and it leaves a record. The harder question on the Space Coast this week is which carrier.

• Tidal water from the ocean, the Banana River, or the Indian River Lagoon that rose into the building: flood policy. The RCBAP defines flood to include "overflow of inland or tidal waters."
• Rain that fell faster than the ground and the storm system could take it and rose into the building from outside: also flood. The definition includes "unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source." This is the November 2 mainland situation for most buildings.
• Rain that came through a roof, a window, a slider, a wall, or a failed seal: property (master) policy. Wind damage to anything: property policy.
• Sewer or drain backup: the flood policy excludes water that "backs up through sewers or drains" unless the backup is a direct result of flooding. The master policy may have a backup endorsement with its own limits and its own flood exclusion. Read both.
• Erosion and undermining on the beach: flood policy, but only within the policy's definition. See Phase 4.
• If both events touched the building, send notice to every carrier for every event. Florida law bars a property claim if notice is not given within one year of the date of loss. Do not let the flood exclusion in the master policy talk you out of notifying that carrier.
• Log every call: date, time, name, claim number, what was said.

Phase 3. Photos, video, and the below-grade equipment list

• Every waterline, every wall, every column, every piece of equipment, with a tape measure in frame. Wide, medium, close. Video a narrated walk of the garage, mechanical rooms, and elevator pit.
• Do not discard anything before the adjuster sees it unless it is a health hazard or local law requires it. Keep samples of carpet, flooring, and drywall if you must remove them.
• The RCBAP's coverage in a basement, or in an enclosure below the lowest elevated floor of an elevated building, is limited to a list of items. On the Space Coast that list is most of what fails: central air conditioners, electrical junction and circuit breaker boxes, outlets and switches, elevators and related equipment (except related equipment installed below the base flood elevation after September 30, 1987), fuel tanks and fuel, furnaces and water heaters, heat pumps, sump pumps, well tanks and pumps, stairways attached to the building, footings and foundations and pilings, required utility connections, and clean-up.
• Build the schedule now: location, make, model, serial number, age, what it was submerged in, and the contractor's recommendation. Saltwater corrosion shows up weeks later. Get the electrician and the elevator contractor to say in writing whether each item should be replaced, cleaned and tested, or monitored.
• Many Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral buildings have ground-level parking under the first living floor. Whether that space is an enclosure below the lowest elevated floor, and what the building's flood zone is, decides how the list applies. The elevation certificate and the declarations page answer both. Pull them.

Phase 4. Erosion and wave scour on the south beaches

This is the Space Coast question that does not come up in Miami garages. Standing water did less damage in Satellite Beach, Indian Harbour Beach, Indialantic, and Melbourne Beach than undermining did. The RCBAP's definition of flood has a second part. Flood also means "collapse or subsidence of land along the shore of a lake or similar body of water as a result of erosion or undermining caused by waves or currents of water exceeding anticipated cyclical levels which result in a flood as defined in B.1.a above."

Two things follow. First, erosion damage to the building can be a covered flood loss when waves above anticipated cyclical levels collapse or undermine the land under it. A record tide with onshore wind is the kind of event that language was written for. Second, the policy separately excludes "gradual erosion" and other earth movement, then adds that it does pay for "land subsidence as a result of erosion that are specifically covered under our definition of flood." The difference between those two is documentation of the event and an engineer's opinion on cause.

• Photograph the dune scarp, the distance from the scarp to the building, the pool deck, and any exposed footings, pilings, or utilities, with a tape measure, on each day the surf is up.
• Get a structural or geotechnical engineer to look at any slab, deck, pool, or foundation that lost supporting sand. Ask for a written opinion on whether the loss was caused by wave undermining during the October 26 to 28 event.
• Remember what is not insured even when the cause is flood: land, lawns, trees, and plants; fences, retaining walls, seawalls, bulkheads, wharves, piers, and docks; walks, decks, driveways, and patios outside the exterior walls; swimming pools and their equipment. The dune and the crossover are not covered. Foundation elements of the building are on the covered list. The engineer's report should draw that line clearly.
• A building located entirely over water or seaward of mean high tide and built or substantially improved after September 30, 1982 is not insured at all under the NFIP. Most Brevard condos are landward, but a beach club or dune-top structure may not be.
• If the dune loss leaves the building exposed to the November 22 to 29 tides, document the condition before that window and take reasonable steps to protect the property. Keep the receipts.

Phase 5. Contractor findings and mitigation invoices

• Licensed electrician: component-by-component report with test results.
• Elevator contractor: pit, machine room, controller, car, and a repair or replace quote.
• Mechanical and plumbing: water heaters, pumps, HVAC, fire pump and controller.
• Structural or geotechnical engineer for erosion: cause, extent, and what must be done to make the building safe.
• Mitigation: pumping, extraction, drying, dehumidification, antimicrobial treatment, generator rental, temporary power and lighting, sand or barrier placement. Keep every invoice and the daily drying logs.
• Utility correspondence about disconnection, inspection, and reconnection.

Phase 6. Board minutes, resident notices, and unit owners

• Florida condominium law requires minutes of all board and member meetings to be kept permanently as official records. Record the decision to report the claim, the vendors engaged, the emergency spending, and who is handling the carrier.
• Keep dated copies of every resident notice: elevators, power, hot water, parking, crossover closures.
• Tell unit owners plainly: the association's flood policy covers the building and common elements. A standard HO-6 excludes flood. An owner's own NFIP dwelling policy can cover the owner's building items and contents, and it can pay the owner's share of a flood loss assessment charged by the association, up to that policy's building limit and subject to its conditions. Owners should call their agents now.
• If a special assessment for flood repairs is possible, say so in writing early so owners with flood policies can give notice.
• Mainland HOAs and condos without a flood policy: the master policy will almost certainly deny rising water. Say that to owners early rather than late. Owners without flood insurance should still document everything and watch for any federal declaration.

Phase 7. The sworn proof of loss and the dates that follow

The RCBAP requires that "within 60 days after the loss" you send a proof of loss, "which is your statement of the amount you are claiming under the policy signed and sworn to by you." It must include the date and time of loss, how it happened, your interest, other insurance, specifications of the damaged building and detailed repair estimates, mortgagees, occupancy, and any contents inventory.

• October 26 tide loss: December 25, 2026. October 27: December 26. October 28: December 27. November 2 rain loss: January 1, 2027. Private flood policies set their own terms; read yours.
• The adjuster may help you complete the form "as a matter of courtesy only." You must still send it within 60 days even if the adjuster never provides one.
• The policy says that in completing the proof of loss "you must use your own judgment concerning the amount of loss and justify that amount." Do not sign a proof of loss you believe is incomplete. Submit your own with your own estimates, and request additional payment later if more damage is found. If the deadline is close, a signed proof of loss for the amount you can support beats a missed deadline.
• Denial: appeal to FEMA within 60 calendar days of the date on the written denial letter. The policy gives one year from the date of the written denial to file suit, and the appeal does not extend that year. Filing suit or completing an appraisal ends the appeal option.
• Coinsurance: RCBAP building coverage requires insurance of at least 80 percent of replacement cost or the NFIP maximum, whichever is less, or the payment is reduced in proportion. Pull the appraisal and the declarations page.
• Increased Cost of Compliance: up to $30,000 if the building official determines substantial damage and the floodplain ordinance requires elevation, floodproofing, relocation, or demolition. Separate claim, separate proof of loss.
• Mold: excluded when it results primarily from a condition within your control, including failure to inspect and maintain the property after the flood recedes. Dry fast and keep the logs.

Phase 8. Keep the tide events and the rain event separate

The National Weather Service in Melbourne lists the remaining 2026 king tide windows at Trident Pier as November 6 to 11, November 22 to 29 (predicted peak around November 25), and December 21 to 28. Those are astronomical predictions with no wind added. October showed what onshore wind does to them.

• Before each window: photograph the current condition of the garage, the mechanical rooms, the dune line, and the exterior.
• After each window: new photos, a new log entry, and a new written notice with a new date of loss if water entered.
• Mainland boards: the November 2 rain is one event. If the ground is still saturated and another storm floods the building, that is a second date of loss with its own notice and its own 60 days.
• Never let the carrier blend events. The board should be able to say which water did what, on which date, with photos.

FEMA, the state of emergency, and what they change

• FEMA Individual Assistance requires a Presidential major disaster declaration requested by the Governor, usually after a joint preliminary damage assessment. As of November 2 there is none for this event. Brevard's emergency management director has said in the past that a county this size needs roughly 150 homes with major flooding, defined as 12 inches of water or more, before federal individual assistance is on the table. Report damage through the county's damage assessment form so the count is accurate, but plan as if the association's own insurance is the recovery.
• The SBA can issue its own physical disaster declaration, on a Governor's request, when at least 25 homes or businesses in a county each sustain uninsured losses of 40 percent or more. That opens low-interest disaster loans, not grants. Watch for it if the Presidential declaration does not come.
• The Governor's state of emergency, EO 26-227, matters for public adjuster contracts. Under Florida law, a contract entered into based on events that are the subject of a declared state of emergency can be cancelled by the insured within 30 days after the date of loss or 10 days after the contract is executed, whichever is longer. For other losses the cancellation window is 10 days. The order names the October 31 to November 2 rain system.
• Florida law also limits when a public adjuster may contact you: Monday through Saturday, 8 AM to 8 PM only. A public adjuster does not give legal advice.

Bring this to your next board meeting

A short agenda a board president can paste into the notice:

• Item 1. Which events reached the building: tide dates, rain date, or both. Confirm the dates of loss for the minutes.
• Item 2. Insurance in force: flood carrier and policy number, building limit and coinsurance status, master policy carrier, elevation certificate on file.
• Item 3. Notices sent: to whom, on what date, claim numbers received.
• Item 4. Documentation status: photo set complete, equipment schedule complete, contractor and engineer reports ordered.
• Item 5. Emergency spending authorized and vendors engaged.
• Item 6. Proof of loss date on the calendar and who owns it.
• Item 7. Owner communication: what owners have been told about HO-6, unit owner flood policies, and loss assessment coverage.
• Item 8. Next king tide window and the plan to protect and re-document the building.
• Item 9. Whether to engage a licensed public adjuster, association counsel, or both, and on what questions.

About SCCA and this checklist

The Space Coast Communities Association has served Brevard condominium, homeowner, cooperative, and timeshare boards since 1975. Its member associations represent about 19,000 residential units. General membership meetings are usually the third Wednesday of the month at the Radisson in Cape Canaveral. The next meeting is Wednesday, November 18, 2026, and the posted topic is legal issues, with Alan Schwartzseid of KBR Law. If your board has flood questions, that is a good room to ask them in.

James Coyne, who wrote this checklist, is a Florida licensed public adjuster (W482618) and an SCCA Business Associate member. He worked as a carrier-side adjuster before opening Coyne Commercial Group in Sanford. He will be at the November 18 meeting with printed copies.

Commonly Asked Questions

Related

• Download the SCCA flood claim checklist (PDF) →
• King tide flood claim checklist for Florida condo boards →
• Brevard County flooding, November 2026: the event page →
• RCBAP: how condo association flood insurance works →
• Rain flooding vs flood insurance: which policy →
• The NFIP proof of loss: 60 days, explained →
• NFIP claim denied or underpaid: the appeal →
• Flooded without flood insurance in Florida →
• Your building flooded in Florida: what to do →
• King tide flood claims in South Florida →
• Wind vs flood damage →
• Underpaid or denied claim: what to do next →
• Condo association claims in Florida →
• Should you hire a public adjuster? →

About the Author

James Coyne

Florida Licensed Public Adjuster, License W482618. Founder of Coyne Commercial Group, Firm License G350978, Sanford, Florida. Represents commercial property owners, condominium and HOA associations, and homeowners on insurance claims statewide.

Sources

• NOAA Tides and Currents, Trident Pier, Port Canaveral (station 8721604), verified water levels October 26 to 28, 2026, MHHW datum: 3.038 ft at 9:00 AM October 27
• News 6 ClickOrlando, October 29, 2026: Port Canaveral gauge highest non-tropical water level since 1994, above Hurricane Ian
• Spectrum News 13, October 29, 2026: king tides damage Melbourne Beach motel; county beaches program manager on erosion
• News 6 ClickOrlando, October 26, 2026: Satellite Beach closes crossovers after erosion
• FOX 35 Orlando, October 29, 2026: Indian River Drive saltwater flooding through storm drains
• Central Florida Public Media, November 2, 2026: rainfall totals, "borderline historic," school closures, polling place changes
• The Weather Channel, November 2, 2026: flash flood emergency, Melbourne airport 13 inches, wettest day on record
• WFTV, November 2, 2026: Governor declares state of emergency (EO 26-227) for seven counties
• FEMA, NFIP Residential Condominium Building Association Policy, Standard Flood Insurance Policy (F-144, October 2021)
• FEMA, NFIP Dwelling Form Standard Flood Insurance Policy (F-122, October 2021): Condominium Loss Assessments
• FloodSmart.gov, Appeal a Claim
• FEMA, How a Disaster Gets Declared
• 13 CFR 123.3, SBA disaster declarations
• National Weather Service Melbourne, King Tides: 2026 windows at Trident Pier
• Space Coast Communities Association: November 18, 2026 meeting and organization history
• Fla. Stat. 626.854: public adjuster contract cancellation, solicitation hours, advertisement notice
• Fla. Stat. 718.111(11) and (12): association insurance and official records

This page is for general information, not legal advice or a coverage determination. Confirm any deadline or obligation against your policy, your association’s governing documents, and current Florida law.