Eva Kelly-Cubells knows her 2016 Chevy Cruze — and tens of thousands of other cars swamped in hurricanes Helene and Milton — did not go quietly.
The 86-year-old Punta Gorda resident and her cat evacuated to a friend’s house on Sept. 26. There, Kelly-Cubells thought, she would be a safe distance from the canals and ponds that surround her manufactured home for Hurricane Helene’s anticipated visit. Deep in the night, though, she heard the water surging across the nearby road and then something even more ominous: a cacophony of car horns going off.
“Then it would stop, and you’d know that was the end,” Kelly-Cubells said.
Hurricane auto claims likely to hit six figures
The number of insurance claims on cars filed in Florida’s back-to-back hurricanes is approaching six figures: 91,975 filings for damaged passenger and commercial vehicles as of Monday, Oct. 28, data from the state Office of Insurance Regulation shows. And although Milton’s property damage claims dwarf Helene’s, Helene’s auto claims are 70% greater than Milton’s, state figures show.