Carol, thank you for posting this. You captured perfectly what I had been thinking. We have Lloyds through CIL. As Erie said, the deductible is 5% of insured value for a named storm, which is a fraction of our damage. The coverage is not cheap, but as Carol said, it is a cost of doing business. And they have collected our premiums for over 40 years without a claim.

Someone asked how many people are insured. I have spoken with two neighbors who are self insured. Everyone else who has spoken up has insurance, although I suspect a few don't and will be in a bind.

As to the locals, my guess is many generally rely on family in a crisis and, likewise, tend to support family members, often in lieu of building savings. We have supported the people who work for us and on whom we depend, and they, in turn, are going above and beyond to help us recover.