Florida's Great Hurricane/Chapter 12

THE total tornado insurance written in the Miami district, which includes Pompano, Fort Lauderdale, Dania, Hollywood, Hallandale, Ojus, Little River, Lemon City, Buena Vista, Miami, Miami Beach, Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, and Hialeah was $55,484,685. The companies will pay on that amount from twenty to twenty-five per cent. that being the average amount of damage in proportion to the face of the policies. The amount of damage wrought by the storm in the Miami district as described is estimated by insurance authorities to have been $165,000,000. This probably is the most reliable estimate that has been made.

Shipping authorities agree that it will be many months before it will be possible to ascertain what the marine losses amounted to. The only way in which that could be obtained would be to find and interview the owners of the several hundred vessels that were sunk, destroyed or stranded. I interviewed the dockmaster, Capt. Schollenberger and others who generally are possessed of knowledge of marine affairs but I could get no definite information. They simply had no idea as to what the losses would amount to. Some of the vessels in the harbor went down with all on board. This was true in the case of the Nohab, the former Kaiserein's yacht, which was built at the Krupp works and was presented to the Kaiserein by Bertha Krupp. This yacht had been in Miami harbor all winter. For awhile it was used as a kind of dinner club, the lure being chiefly the silver bath tubs in which German royalty had bathed. The vessel had been purchased by a corporation with the purpose of putting it in passenger service between Miami and Nassau, but there were some financial difficulties and the vessel still was inactive at the time of the storm. Only one member of the crew was saved, the engineer, who happened to be ashore. Five were lost when the Nohab went down. The vessel was not sunk, but is down on its side and waterlogged. It is probable that it will be salvaged. Some of the wrecks were picturesque. The five-masted schooner Rose Mahony from San Francisco was stranded at the foot of Ninth street and viewed from a distance has the appearance of being in the middle of the street. While as a matter of fact she is not, the schooner is quite a distance from the Bay, and it will cost a pretty penny to launch her, to say nothing of the damage she has suffered. A survey of wrecked ​and stranded vessels was made at Miami by Ensign Morris N. Partridge, of the United States Navy (Reserve) acting Chairman of the Marine Committee for Red Cross and representative of United States, and city engineers. Ensign Partridge included 372 vessels in his survey, which, admittedly, was not complete. More than 150 yachts and houseboats anchored in the basin of Captain George K. Pilkington at Fort Lauderdale were damaged. Fourteen were sunk, but the probability is that all of these will be salvaged. The cost of salvage and the damage suffered will be great, probably not less than half of the total value of the property involved. Thus it will be seen that the actual damage to marine property takes on an aspect quite different from that which characterizes houses and other property on land. Salvaging a sunken vessel might cost as much as the original value, but there are reasons why vessels must be salvaged if possible. Capt. R. H. Wilson, bridge engineer of the City of Miami, was charged with the duty of clearing the Miami River. That stream was filled with sunken vessels, and it was necessary to open it to navigation. The owners were required to raise their vessels at once or allow the city to do so. Any one who has owned a boat understands the feeling akin to affection which attaches to such property. The probability is that many an owner will spend more than the hull is worth to salvage it.

That there was a considerable loss of life on vessels there can be no question, but this also is a matter for conjecture only. The dredge Miami valued at $350,000 and insured for its full value, was lost, presumably with several persons on board. How many vessels that were lost with all on board is not known. I am convinced that the number of reported dead is less than the number who perished for those reported dead refers only to bodies recovered. On the other hand the likelihood is that many reported missing will be found. I dined with friends at Miami Beach a few nights ago and present was one who had been reported missing. He had saved nothing but a bathing suit.

Plate glass losses in Miami were estimated at $500,000, and automobile damage at $300,000. These figures are taken from the Insurance Field, published at 405 South Fourth Street, Louisville, Ky. Raymund Daniels, associate editor of that publication, spent several weeks in Miami reporting the insurance features following the hurricane, and the work he did will be of much assistance to the future historian. Immediately after the storm an army of insurance ​adjusters came to Miami. A bureau was established at the Columbus Hotel, and the adjusters were organized as follows:

Organization Committee: Secretary, H. G. Foard, of the Home of New York, chairman; Vice-President, A. R. Phillips, of the Great American, New York; Southern Deputy Manager, R. H. Colcock, Jr., of the Liverpool & London & Globe, New Orleans; Southern Manager R. B. Barnett of the Fire Association, Atlanta; General Adjuster Guy F. Elliott of the Travelers Fire of Hartford.

Steering Committee: General Manager E. P. Roberts of the Southern Adjustment Bureau, Atlanta, chairman; General Agent George W. Mills of Jacksonville; General Adjuster J. O. Dye of the Great American, New York; Assistant General Agent H. J. Hopkins of the Hartford Fire, Atlanta; B. K. Clapp of Clapp, Stenger & Co., independent adjusters, Atlanta; J. T. Dargan, Jr., of Windle, Burlingame & Dargan, independent adjusters, New York; Harry S. Gardner, adjuster, Home of New York.

Mr. Daniels told me that the Miami storm was the most unique in the history of disasters in which insurance played a part for the reason that every claim would have to be individually adjusted, and in view of the fact that more than 6,000 claims already had been filed the figures he gave me would be good for at least a year succeeding the hurricane. More than 150 companies had accepted liability insurance in the Miami district. The Hartford led the list with $4,227,950 and approximately 600 claims; the Globe and Rutgers was second with $3,957,000 with only 69 claims, an average policy valuation of $55,000. The Aetna group bore $1,995,000 of the liability while other heavily involved companies were the City of New York, Concordia, Fire Association, Fireman's Fund, Milwaukee, Mechanics and North River, each with liabilities of more than a million. Mr. Daniels estimated that the storm insurance policies would bring from $10,000,000 to $13,000,000 into the Miami district, which will assist materially in the work of rehabilitation. The number of death and accident claims was negligible. Evidently those who were killed and injured did not, as a rule, carry insurance.

It is estimated that 20,000 families are subject for relief as provided by Red Cross. In a statement issued October 7, Henry M. Baker, director of relief work, stated that with the emergency relief period officially closed the organization would begin the task of giving individual consideration to the needs of every family, and making awards from the relief fund for permanent rehabilitation.

For the week closing at noon, October 9, Red Cross relief had been given as follows, these figures being for the entire storm stricken section: Food to 6,500; clothing to 4,650; medical and nursing service to 113,200; building and repair jobs to houses to 12,330; tents to accommodate 11,900.

Administrative headquarters were established in Boca Raton (land development offices) on East Flagler Street in Miami, and a tent community at Sebring is being used as headquarters for refugees from the Moore Haven district. Later Miami's headquarters were moved to the American Legion building.

Following is a summary of storm damage, with the exception of estimates of property damage, as compiled by Red Cross as of October 9, for all places in Florida that were damaged by the hurricane:

When it comes to estimates of property damage, there is no certain way of ascertaining the amount, or even approximating it. The Citizens Committee estimated the damage in Miami proper at $75,000,000, based upon first reports. One of the items in this esti​mate was that five thousand houses had been damaged to the extent of $500 each, total $2,500,000. A close survey would probably prove this to be underestimated. Nearly every house that was damaged at all was hurt to a greater extent than $500. Many were demolished altogether, and some that did not appear to be damaged to any extent from the exterior revealed a sorry plight inside. An insurance journal gave estimates received evidently from insurance adjusters in Miami that the loss in the Miami district was $165,000,000. This figure has the seeming of being more nearly correct, but damage throughout the storm area, a path sixty miles wide across the lower peninsula, a jump across the Gulf to Pensacola, damaging that city to the extent of $2,000,000 after leaving a million dollar loss at Fort Myers, is difficult to estimate. An item of damage which has not been given due consideration was that to ornamental and fruit trees. Many citrus, avocado and mango groves were ruined. The trees were broken and split down the middle, a condition that forbids salvage except by sawing off and rebudding which would cost more, perhaps, than resetting new groves in their places. No adequate estimate can be placed upon this kind of loss. The citrus crop loss was estimated at $5,000,000 to $10,000,000.