"Bringing normalcy" in the aftermath of two major hurricanes

Jeremy George of ServPro updates home cleanup and recovery efforts in Florida as homeowners return to the aftermath of hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Transcript

00:00Right now, we're providing a lot of community support to homes and businesses, working around

00:06the clock to just try to provide stability and bring some normalcy back to the people.

00:12We've had a great response, as you can imagine.

00:14Our local resources here are tapped out.

00:17So ServPro nationally, we have about 450 crews from around the country that have been able

00:21to come down and help us here in the Newport, Ritchie, Tampa Bay area.

00:26For homeowners impacted by Milton, what kinds of home damage are most urgent right now?

00:34I'd say water damage is one of the most urgent, because if that's left untreated, it becomes

00:37a bigger problem down the road.

00:41With Helene, we dealt with mostly flooding here on the West Coast, and then when we got

00:45kind of the double one-two punch with Milton that came through, that presented more of

00:49a wind problem.

00:51So that compromised roofing structures, things like that.

00:54If you have the ability to tarp or minimize damage from the roofing, that would certainly

01:00be suggestive as well.

01:02And then after a weather disaster, how do you determine if property damage can even

01:06be restored?

01:07It's kind of a math equation.

01:10We look at it, and the last thing we'd want to do is put people in a position after cleanup

01:15services where they don't have enough money to make the right decision for them.

01:19So we try to use the rule of thumb where if it costs 50% or less to restore it, it would

01:24make sense.

01:25When you get over that, we would probably talk with the property owner to determine

01:28what's best for them.

01:30We try to look at if there's anything there that can't be replaced by money.

01:34Grandma gave me these champagne glasses at my wedding, those types of things.

01:40Those things are treated a little bit differently.

01:42But on a structural side, which is the building itself, that's how we would look at those.

01:47Jeremy George, Owner, Operator, and Executive Director of SurfPro of West Pasco, thanks

01:52again for joining us.