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Nearly forty-three percent of Clearwater's housing is in large multi-unit buildings. One failed supply line on the eighth floor is a five-unit job.
Where the water comes from
Two separate problems. Barrier-island surge on Clearwater Beach and Sand Key, and stacked-unit water losses in the condo and mid-rise stock that have nothing to do with weather.
Hurricane Helene
26–27 September 2024
Clearwater Beach, Island Estates and Sand Key were evacuated and closed. Several feet of water through beach-level businesses and homes, and in places up to six feet of sand left on the roads. Pinellas took surge from both sides at once — the Gulf and Tampa Bay.
What is built here
Large apartment and condominium buildings make up about 43% of Clearwater's roughly 49,900 housing units. Detached single-family is under 39%. That inverts how a loss behaves: water leaves the unit it started in.
The mainland carries a lot of 1950s and 60s mid-century block — Greenbriar, Skycrest, Morningside. Imperial Park is 273 homes built between 1960 and 1970. Harbor Oaks goes back to the 1920s and 30s.
Sand Key and Island Estates are 1970s to 90s towers. Countryside is later suburban build-out.
The mainland ridge sits relatively high. The exposure is concentrated on the barrier islands and the low bayside pockets, not across the whole city.
What we are called for
In a mid-rise, water travels laterally through the floor assembly and then down through every unit beneath it. A clean Category 1 loss in one bathroom becomes four or five affected units within an hour, and each of those owners has a different insurer.
The association's master policy and an individual HO-6 cover different things, and the line between common element and unit owner responsibility is where these claims stall. We document to both, because we do not know yet which one is paying.
Barrier-island surge leaves sand behind. That is mechanically different from a rain flood and much harder on air handlers, duct runs and contents.
The mid-century strip retail along US 19 and Gulf-to-Bay has flat roofs with seams that fail and insulation above the deck that saturates invisibly. By the time the ceiling grid shows it, the wet area is much larger than the stain.
Getting to you
Reached from Tampa over the Courtney Campbell Causeway. It closes in a storm.
Call and tell us the cross streets. We will tell you what to do before anyone arrives — where the shut-off usually is in a house like yours, what to move, and what to leave exactly where it is for the photographs.