Panama City public adjuster for Hurricane Isaias claims

Panama City rebuilt once already. Hurricane Michael tore this city apart in 2018, and thousands of owners here fought their claims to the end and learned exactly how the process works. Now Isaias has crossed Bay County, and the owners who know the most about claims face a new problem: a carrier that blames the new storm's damage on the last one. Policyholder Advocacy Group represents Panama City property owners only, never the carrier. The carrier's adjuster represents the carrier. A public adjuster represents you.

Request a Free 21-Point Storm Inspection or call 800.511.2240.

The Michael defense: that damage was already there

Expect this answer on Panama City files for years: the roof was already damaged, the repair was already failing, the condition predates Isaias. Sometimes a carrier will point at a 2019 repair and call every new leak a workmanship problem that belongs to the owner or the roofer. The answer writes itself unless the file separates the two storms with paper.

Separation records exist in most Michael era files: the prior claim number, the prior scope, contractor invoices and permits for the repair, and photos from the rebuild. A roof repaired in 2020 under a documented claim was a sound roof on October 8, 2026, and the wind damage on it now is an Isaias loss. We assemble that record and present the new damage against it. Our hurricane and wind damage page covers how the new claim gets built.

A working city, not a beach town

Panama City proper is not the beach. St. Andrews, downtown, Glenwood, Callaway, and Parker hold working neighborhoods of older single family homes, small apartment buildings, churches, and family businesses. The port and the industrial corridors east of downtown hold warehouses and shops with large roof surfaces. Tyndall Air Force Base anchors the east side, and the neighborhoods around it house the people who rebuilt it.

That mix shapes the claims. Older homes here carry older materials and patched repair histories that need careful documentation. Small commercial buildings carry flat and low slope roofs where opened seams pond water and leak two rooms from the entry point. Neither file rewards a fast inspection, and both reward a complete one.

Roofs repaired after Michael are back in the fight

A large share of Panama City roofs are five to eight years old, installed in the Michael rebuild. Owners hear that a roof that new cannot have real storm damage. Wind does not grade on age. Isaias lifted seals, creased shingles, and opened flashing across the county, and a 2020 roof with broken seals leaks exactly like a 2012 roof does.

The difference here is the paper. A post Michael roof often comes with a full record: the install contract, the product documents, the permit, and the prior carrier's own scope that paid for it. That record defeats both bad answers at once, the wear and tear label and the pre existing damage label. Our roof leak damage page covers how a documented roof claim gets presented.

Commercial Panama City: 23rd Street, US-98, and the east side

The retail along 23rd Street and US-98 and the industrial properties toward the port took the storm as one long corridor. Shopping centers face a building claim and a tenant claim stack at the same time. Warehouses face roof surfaces measured in acres, where a small percentage of opened seams is still a very large repair.

Michael taught this county what commercial files demand. Florida's regulator counted commercial property as the worst performing line after Michael, with nearly one in four commercial claims closed without payment in the final state tally. We document commercial buildings at that standard from day one. See our commercial claims page for how multi building files get built. Commercial claims are not under the residential fee cap described below.

Bay side water and the gauge that proves the night

Isaias pushed water up across the bay system, and the National Hurricane Center recorded a gauge at Panama City Beach reading 5.6 feet above mean higher high water. In Panama City proper, the water fight will be the familiar one: carriers calling interior water flood, owners knowing it came through the roof and the walls. Entry points decide that fight, and entry points get documented, not argued from memory.

Our water damage page explains how wind driven rain claims get proven. Photograph water lines and damaged finishes before cleanup, and keep every receipt for emergency work.

Landlords, tenants, and a rental stock that cannot wait

Panama City houses the workforce of the whole bay, and a large share of its homes are rentals. Storm damage in a rental becomes a claim and a habitability problem at the same time. A tenant with water in the ceiling cannot wait out a slow file, and an owner who delays documentation loses the evidence and the tenant in the same month.

Owners should photograph every unit before repairs, keep the tenant's messages with dates, and hold the lease and the rent record with the claim file. Lost rent during repairs is a documented number on many policies, and it pays on records: the lease, the rent history, and the repair timeline are the income claim. Our apartment complex claims page covers how multi unit files get organized when the buildings stack up.

The papers that speed a Panama City claim

• Your Michael era claim file, if you kept one: the scope, the settlement, the claim number
• Repair contracts, invoices, and permits from the rebuild
• Your current policy, including the declarations page and endorsements
• The carrier's Isaias estimate and every letter that came with it
• Photos from the first days after Isaias, even phone photos
• Receipts for tarps, tree work, and emergency repairs

No other city on this coast gets told to bring the last storm's file to the first meeting. Panama City owners kept those files for a reason. This is the reason.

Already filed? The answers Panama City owners are hearing

• That damage is left over from Hurricane Michael
• The repaired roof failed from workmanship, not wind
• The carrier found wear and tear, not storm damage
• The damage came in below your deductible
• The claim closed with no payment at all

The first two answers are this city's special burden, and both fall to the same record: your Michael era paperwork plus a fresh inspection of what Isaias changed. Bring both to the first meeting. The prior file is not baggage. It is evidence.

Your Isaias deadlines, in plain dates

• Report your loss by October 9, 2027
• Reopen or supplement your claim by April 9, 2028
• The outside date PAG tracks for suit is October 9, 2031

A claim that closed without payment is not always a finished claim. Documented damage found inside these dates can reopen or supplement a closed file. Owners across the bridge can read our Panama City Beach Isaias claims page, and owners west can read our Destin page.

Why Panama City owners call us

Policyholder Advocacy Group has represented Florida policyholders since 2012. Nathan Sheppard has worked insurance claims for 17 years. This county does not need a lecture on how carriers handle storm claims. It needs a file built well enough that the old answers fail. We inspect, document, build the estimate, present the claim, and handle the carrier's questions through the process.

On cost: For residential claims, Florida caps the fee at 10% during the first year after a state of emergency declaration. And 10% of nothing is nothing. Commercial claims are not under that cap. Our fee is a percentage of what we recover for you. If we recover nothing, you pay nothing. Without representation, many owners walk away with far less or nothing at all.

Start with the free inspection

The inspection is free, and there is no obligation to hire us afterward. We document the damage and tell you plainly where you stand. Call 800.511.2240 or request your free hurricane inspection.