Buddy,

  Sorry to hear about your losses, I am a Florida beekeeper, who went through 2 huricanes last year, and the storms took my 250 hive operation down to 18 hives.  Here's what I went through.  Most of the wood ware ended up being salvagable, I used a hose to clean out the salt water (I was 25 miles inland), and then I soaked all equipment in a water bleach solution (30 US gal of water to 1 cup of clorox bleach) for about 20-30 minutes. Then let it air dry, in a low humidity room (honey house with A/C, and dehumidifier on for several days worked for me) most of the combs ended up being reusable also.

 For the reimbursment issues, not much luck there.  Like you said FEMA, was willing to loan money, I didn't want to go that route either.

 USDA ended up with one program for all agriculture, their answer was a crop loss program. The USDA would pay for the loss of any crop that year due to the storms. This helped out citrus growers, vegatable growers etc.. A lot of beekeepers ended with nothing because the majority of honey had been harvested before the storms hit. No money to replacement of bees, or equipment. Remember big business agriculture is going to listened to the most, and what ever program gets developed for your region will help the agribusiness the most.

 Insurance is very tricky as most homeowners policies don't like to cover bees, due to inherent risk factors. some times you can get a special rider to your policy to cover bees, other times/places you have to purchase a seperate policy just to cover bees. So I wouldn't place much faith on your insurance company.

 Good luck,

 Greg

Up to 70 hives this year, next year I will be back over 200.




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