ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. — A St. Lucie County family is finally getting answers from their insurance company following a months-long struggle after an EF3 tornado struck their home Oct. 9.
It's been six months since Mike Newsome's home was damaged, yet it's been a back-and-forth battle between the family and their insurance company.
WATCH BELOW: St. Lucie County family fights for insurance answers 6 months after tornado damage
Feeling overwhelmed, he reached out to investigative reporter Kate Hussey for help.
"Well, talking about it makes me a little emotional," Newsome said as he looked at his boarded-up and tarped home. "Certainly when I came back here the next day and saw it ... it really made me emotional because this is where my daughter came when she was born. It's the only house she knows. It’s the only home she knows."
The tornado, which whipped through the area with winds exceeding 155 mph, destroyed Newsome's home while he and his daughter took shelter inside.
"Vegetation and trees just started flying through the house. I watched the pool enclosure and the fence just fly away," he recalled. "I think we both have a little PTSD from it."
Shortly after the tornado hit Newsome's home, photos showed his roof was in pieces and electrical wires were open and exposed.
"Even though the house is tarped, every time it rains … most everything electrical that we were able to take out of the house is ruined," Newsome said as he gestured to the water pooling on the floor.
His pool enclosure was twisted and mangled, and the walls were wrenched away from their foundation.
"For instance, you can see how it's just broken through here and pulled loose," he pointed out. "The columns are shifted. The trusses were obviously displaced, and the ceilings were separated."
WATCH BELOW: WPTV's special "The Day The Sky Turned"
Newsome immediately filed a claim with his insurance company, Orange Insurance Exchange. He said two days later, they sent an adjuster.
"Their adjuster walked through the house and said in his opinion, it was a total loss," Newsome explained. "He saw some separation in the walls, but he needed to contact the insurance company. They may want to send an engineer out."
Documents show the company did just that. An engineer inspected Newsome's home on Oct. 29 and issued his report of findings about a month later. The report noted damage to his roof panels and trusses, pool enclosure, fence, garage door, porch pillars and ceiling. Yet the report stated the "subject property was 0.4 miles southwest of the reported tornado path."
In contrast, the National Weather Service reports put Newsome's home directly in the twister's track.
"I was absolutely taken aback. I felt like I had done everything I could do to properly allow the insurance company to take the steps that they needed to take, right? It was like a slap in the face," said Newsome.
This letter from the claims administrator for Orange Insurance Exchange notes their inspection did find "extensive damage to the exterior and interior" of Newsome's home, but emails show his insurance company offered him an original payout of just over $150,000.
"Is that going to cover what you need to rebuild?" Husssey asked.
'No, absolutely not," Newsome replied. "I know what it cost me to put a roof on this house three years ago, and basically they're trying to offer me the equivalent now, and it needs much more than a roof."
Newsome hired a private adjuster who documented over $380,000 worth of damage. When his adjuster submitted that documentation to his insurance company, emails show the company upped the offer by $40,000, but it's still about half of what he needs to rebuild.
"In the meantime, I'm renting a house for myself and my daughter, paying two and a half times what my mortgage is to have a roof over our heads," Newsome said.
Newsome then applied for FEMA housing assistance to help pay the $2,700 a month he's spending on rent, but he received a letter back from FEMA stating he was "not eligible for housing assistance" because the "damage caused by the disaster" did not make his home "unsafe to live in."
Days after the storm, St. Lucie County officials red-tagged his home as "unlivable," and even the engineer hired by Orange Insurance Exchange found the house "not safe to live in" in his report of findings.
"So I have reached out to FEMA over the course of the last month and a half, trying to get a copy of their inspector's report on my home," Newsome said. "Initially, they had told me I had to fill out an authorization to allow myself to receive that inspection."
Newsome filled out that authorization and sent it in on Feb. 11, but FEMA sent him back a package in the mail that was addressed to Newsome but contained someone else's file.
"Inside this envelope, this is a gentleman from the west coast of Florida's inspection," Newsome explained. "This is the gentleman's entire file ... his entire FEMA report. It's his Social Security number, his telephone number, his addresses, his repair receipts, his hotel receipts."
He said when he called FEMA and told them they gave him the wrong file, the agency apologized and offered to send him the correct information. But still, he is left wondering.
"If I've got somebody else's information, where is my information?" Newsome said.
And all the while, any housing assistance he could get approved for is further delayed. Newsome doesn't have the money he needs to rebuild, nor financial help to continue renting and hurricane season is two months away.
"Lost, frustrated, at times very aggravated, and just not knowing which direction to go," he admitted. "I had read an article that you had written about another family in Fort Pierce that seems to be going through the exact same things that I'm going through. When I read that article, I got hope, honestly, and I sent you an email and reached out, hoping that maybe the results you were able to get for them could help us too."
Hussey received Newsome's email and immediately started pressing for answers. She reached out to Orange Insurance Exchange and its claims administrator, Harbor Claims. A day later, WPTV received a call from Harbor Claims, explaining they were looking into his situation. Newsome received an email from the company's field adjuster offering to up his payment by $50,000 instead of $40,000.
But that brings his payout to $200,000 — still $180,000 short of what his adjuster said he'll need to rebuild the home he raised his daughter in.
"Just to see that, it hurts. You know? Everybody's peace is home. I don't have it right now," Newsome said while becoming emotional.
So we kept pushing, calling the company again. A company representative pointed out it's their protocol to reimburse policyholders after they rebuild.
Days later, Newsome received an email from the vice president of Harbor Claims. In it, he asked Newsome to send over his contractor's bid and told him the company "should be able to resolve any outstanding items" on his claim. The executive also wrote he would "personally work" with Newsome’s field adjuster to ensure his claim "receives expedited handling."
Orange Insurance Exchange's CEO Don Matz released this statement to us, reading in full:
“Orange Insurance Exchange takes all unresolved claims very seriously. However, discussing specific issues with a third party and/or in a public forum is not in the best interests of our Members.”
We also reached out to FEMA, who told us they weren't able to discuss Newsome's specific case due to privacy laws, but said they forwarded his information to their case management team. Shortly after, Newsome got a call from FEMA, which told him they would re-evaluate his housing assistance status.
"Where it'll go? Who knows. But it's hopeful; it's hope; it's something," he said while expressing cautious optimism.
And for now, he'll take it. It's just a start, but it's a start toward gluing the fragments of his house back into the framework of his home.
"I never thought I would have to go this far, and again, I can't thank you guys enough for doing this," he said gratefully.
Newsome still has a long road ahead of him. He has hired a general contractor who told him he'll likely have to bulldoze his home and start over. However, he is putting together an itemized quote per his insurance company's request so they can reimburse him.
WPTV will be following up with both the insurance company and FEMA to continue tracking Newsome's story.
