Today marks the first day of the 2020 hurricane season and Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is urging its policyholders and all Floridians to again take steps to prepare themselves for the upcoming storm season.

As COVID-19 continues to impact the state, Citizens has taken steps to adapt its catastrophe response plans to protect our customers and employees while filling key leadership positions and strengthening its financial stability by transferring risk to the global reinsurance and capital markets.

"It’s important for all policyholders to make sure they have what they need as we enter another hurricane season," said Barry Gilway, Citizens CEO/President and Executive Director. "Though we all hope for an uneventful hurricane season, Citizens has the personnel, equipment, planning and financial stability to be there when our customers need us most. Citizens is ready."

To help all Floridians, Citizens has partnered with the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network (FPREN) to bring the latest news about catastrophic weather impacting your area. Following a storm, FPREN updates can be heard on public radio stations. An updated mobile app is available for download from the Florida Storms website.

The Citizens website features a Storm Tracker feed, which delivers real-time National Hurricane Center updates directly to your desktop and mobile device through its website. Citizens also offers storm preparation and response information through Facebook and Twitter at @citizens_fla.

How to Prepare

Going into the 2020 hurricane season, policyholders should:

• Update your disaster supply kit with additional supplies as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), learn your evacuation route and develop a family communication plan that includes emergency contact information. Don’t forget to create a plan for your pets! Not all emergency shelters allow pets.
• Register for myPolicy to view your policy, claims and billing information. Verify that Citizens has up-to-date contact and mortgage information. You can also use myPolicy to submit a claim online.
• Ensure that all key property and family information (insurance policies, health records, financial records, pet records, identification details, home inventory, etc.) are stored in a safe, waterproof and easy to access location.
• Take advantage of Florida’s Disaster Preparedness 2020 Sales Tax Holiday on hurricane supplies, which runs from May 29 to June 4, 2020.

If you suffer property damage, remember to Call Citizens First at 866.411.2742 or visit myPolicy to report a claim. Representatives are available 24/7. More information can be found on the Citizens website.