Florida restaurateur on Helene: ‘It’s an absolute gut punch’

Café L’Europe, one of the oldest buildings in St. Armands Circle, in Sarasota, Florida, has been flooded four times in the past 18 months.

“That last one from Helene completely wiped out the restaurant. Every piece of equipment is ruined… It was gut-wrenching,” John Horne, CEO of Oysters Rock Hospitality, which owns and operates the restaurant along with six other spots along Florida’s West Coast, told FOX Business. 

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Horne said the building, which was formerly home to John Ringling’s sales office, took on 4 feet of water and that no one in St. Armands Circle was spared. 

“[I’ve’] never seen anything like it. Every business in the circle is affected” by Helene, Horne said. Helene made landfall last month as a Category 4 storm and brought with it winds with speeds of up to 140 mph and a record storm surge of 15 feet. 

Moody’s RMS Event Response estimated that private market insured losses for Helene’s wind and storm surge damage will range between $6.7 billion and $12.3 billion, while inland flooding losses will be between $1.3 billion and $1.7 billion. 

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That brings the total private market insured losses to between $8 billion and $14 billion, with the best estimate of $11 billion, according to Moody’s RMS. 

Even though Horne boarded up the café before Hurricane Milton, it took on another foot of water from the storm. 

Horne said the first estimate he received for the construction costs was about $350,000. He was quoted another $250,000 for the equipment. 

“It’s an absolute gut punch,” he said.

Horne is asking officials to look into storm water drain pumps, which he said have repeatedly failed.

Some owners, according to Horne, are rethinking whether to reopen their businesses after being hit by multiple storms. He talked to some people in the circle who said “that’s it,” Horne said.

He fears that one day he might be one of them.

“At some point, the insurance is going to price itself out,” Horne said.