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Pasco Jail Tornado Damage Might Exceed $1 Million
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Published: December 18, 2007
NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - The tornado that struck the Pasco County jail complex near Land O' Lakes early Sunday morning left an estimated $1 million in damage in its wake.
County staff members gave this preliminary damage estimate to the County Commission today after conferring Monday with insurance adjusters. The adjusters are still assessing the total amount of damage, commissioners learned today.
In the meantime, the big question is how much of an insurance deductible the county will have to absorb.
That number might range from about $50,000 to $2.5 million, Jane Calano, the county's risk manager, reported.
The county's insurance policy on the temporary jail housing area the tornado destroyed ordinarily carries a $50,000 deductible, Calano explained.
If insurance carriers determine wind currents associated with Tropical Storm Olga helped spawn the tornado, then the county might face a wind damage deductible of 5 percent on its $55 million policy, or about $2.5 million.
That could mean the county would receive no insurance payment if the $1 million damage estimate is confirmed because it is well below the $2.5 million deductible.
Some might argue the remnants of Olga intermingled with a massive cold front that swept down the state from the north to produce the Sunday morning twister, Calano told commissioners.
Chief Assistant County Administrator Michele Baker, the county's former emergency management director, doubts the tornado and Olga are related.
The last advisory the county received on Tropical Storm Olga from the National Weather Service was issued Dec. 12, Baker said. The tornado came through Pasco on Dec. 16, she noted.
"You just earned your pay for the year," Commissioner Michael Cox said with a chuckle to Baker.
Read more in this Saturday's West Pasco edition of The Suncoast News.
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