He had expected more than 100. More than 40,000 people were evacuated from their homes in Flagler County, north of here, and the Daytona Beach area last week. They returned Monday. Fire claimed about 40 homes in the lush Palm Coast section of Flagler County, an area that has seen its population balloon from 28,701 in 1990 to an estimated 48,995 today. State Farm, one of the state's largest home insurers, said Wednesday that it is processing 485 claims, including many from Flagler County.
Claims range from total losses to smoke damage.
A 1985 wildfire slowed the home-building industry for a couple of years, and construction company owners worry that could happen again. Fla. Rob Root, assistant manager at Dunn Lumber of Bunnell, says the store quickly sold out of shovels and gloves at the peak of the wildfires. But he, too, is worried about future sales. In particular, he fears some landowners whose bare acreage was touched by the flames might delay construction plans. This is no Andrew Despite individual losses and short-term pain, economists say the wildfires' effect on the state's economy will be relatively minor especially when compared to hurricanes that periodically ravage more densely populated areas.