A St. Petersburg home was severely damaged after a tree fell during Hurricane Milton, leaving a gaping hole in the roof and rain pouring inside. But the damage didn’t stop there, the smell of mold quickly followed. Lorraine Wuyts says the moisture inside her home, combined with the storm damage, created the perfect conditions for mold to grow. “The smell is really bad,” she explained. “I’ve never been that scared. I was actually shaking.” The storm had torn a large hole in the roof, large enough for Lorraine to see sunlight streaming into her living room. She quickly acted, securing a tarp with the help of her sister. But she still worried about the unseen damage. Despite paying for mold coverage as part of her insurance plan with Citizens Insurance, Lorraine says her insurance adjuster didn’t check for mold, claiming nothing was visible. “He looked around, but it’s not like he went up into the ceiling,” she said. “He missed a lot of the damage.” When she received her settlement paperwork, the insurance company agreed to pay for repairs to the roof, but nothing for mold remediation. Lorraine believes the insurer should have tested her home for mold given the extent of the damage. That’s when she reached out to Alex Duensing, a public adjuster, to investigate further. Alex reviewed Lorraine's policy and found that it included mold and mildew coverage, worth at least $10,000. However, after submitting the claim to the insurance company, they say the insurance provider denied it, citing that the field adjuster hadn’t found any visible mold. “When I came down here, I was shocked,” Duensing said. “I thought it was just water damage, but there was an apocalyptic hole in the roof.” According to Arpad Kolbe, a licensed mold assessor in Florida, it’s crucial to conduct proper mold testing, which includes taking samples and sending them to a lab. “You can’t just look at the damage and assume there’s no mold,” he said.