Hurricanes refocus attention to scarcity of flood insurance in high-risk Florida

Only about one-third of homes in Florida's flood zones are covered by insurance. Residents say the state should provide every incentive' to obtain it

Many of the million-dollar houses lining South Dundee Street in Tampa's Sunset Park Isles neighborhood appeared to be hosting one huge outdoor garage sale this week.

Piles of chairs, tables, mattresses, bookshelves, chests of drawers, sofas and other household items sat unattended in the gathering dusk on Thursday evening - but these articles bore no price tags. They had been irreparably damaged by the massive storm surge that engulfed much of south Tampa in late September when Hurricane Helene barreled past the Tampa/St Petersburg metropolitan area, and their owners had stockpiled the discarded furniture for retrieval by sanitation workers.