Tropical Storm Ian insurance losses projected to reach $40 billion
The storm comes as Florida's insurance market has been inundated with lawsuits, fraudulent roof-replacement schemes
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Tropical Storm Ian is poised to become one of the most expensive weather catastrophes in U.S. insurance history.
"While it's too early to tell what the damage projections will be, many of the insurance modelers are putting it at between $20 and $40 billion," Insurance Information Institute spokesperson Loretta Worters told FOX Business Thursday.
Hurricane Charley followed a similar path through Florida as Ian in 2004 and racked up $16 billion in property damage.
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Damaged homes and debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Fort Myers, Fla. | AP Newsroom
To date, the costliest storm has been Hurricane Katrina. Here are the top five:
- Hurricane Katrina, 2005, $65 billion
- Hurricane Ida, 2021, $36 billion
- Hurricane Irma, 2017, $30.1 billion
- Hurricane Harvey, 2017, $30 billion
- Hurricane Sandy, 2012, $30 billion
No direct hits occurred in Florida over the past three hurricane seasons — until Ian.
Ian's arrival in Florida comes as the Sunshine State has seen turmoil in its insurance market due to a heavy number of lawsuits and fraudulent roof-replacement schemes.
According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), Florida is the site of 79% of all homeowners insurance lawsuits over claims filed nationwide. However, Florida homeowners receive only 9% of all U.S. homeowners property insurance claims. Floridians For Lawsuit Reform estimates 130,000 property claim lawsuits will be filed in 2022, largely due to Florida’s favorable litigation environment.
An analysis by the Insurance Information Institute found Florida homeowners pay the highest average property insurance premium in the U.S. at $4,231, nearly three times the U.S. average of $1,544. The net underwriting losses for Florida domestic property companies exceeded $1 billion in both 2020 and 2021, leading to insurer insolvencies and rating downgrades.
Worters says the state's insurers have been forced to respond to the unfortunate market trends by restricting new business, ending renewals on existing policies and even canceling policies midterm.
As a result, Citizens Property Insurance Group, the state-backed last resort in Florida, has seen a massive surge in policyholders. The firm, which is taking on more than 5,000 policies a week, expects its policy count to reach 1.1 million to 1.3 million by the end of 2022.
To support existing policyholders, Florida's Office of Insurance Regulation has issued an emergency order prohibiting the cancellation or non-renewal of a policy until Nov. 28.
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Standard home insurance policies — including those with Citizens — do not include flood coverage, which is handled through FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program and is separate issue from the insurance market.
The federally-backed flood insurance is generally mandated for mortgaged homes in flood zones, but people who fully own their homes sometimes decline to get it, and it’s less common in areas not usually prone to flooding.
In this photo provided by the Orange County Fire Rescue's Public Information Office, firefighters in Orange County, Fla., help people stranded by Hurricane Ian early Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. (Orange County Fire Rescue's Public Information Office via AP / AP Newsroom)
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According to the latest update from the National Weather Service, Ian is expected to regain hurricane strength on Thursday and make landfall in South Carolina Friday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report