Any deaths reported?

Ian Claims in Florida Topping 449,000 So Far, But Many More Expected

The number of claims filed from Hurricane Ian continues to rise, topping 449,000 as of Monday, and estimated insured losses stand at more than $4.2 billion, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation reported.

Some 322,268 claims – almost three quarters of the total – have been from residential property owners. Commercial property claims have come to 12,362 so far, and private flood insurance claims have amounted to less than 1,440, the OIR reported on its website.

About 8.5% of claims have been closed.

The number of claims is expected to rise many-fold and has already far outpaced the 158,991 claims filed after Hurricane Michael, which struck the Florida Panhandle in 2018 and resulted in more than $9 billion in estimated insured losses, the office said. Hurricane Irma, which tracked across a large part of Florida in 2017, led to 1.1 million claims, mostly from residential properties, and triggered $20.7 billion in estimated insured losses.

Hurricane Ian, which made landfall near Fort Myers, Florida on Sept. 28, is projected to cause more than ....

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/s ... 689201.htm

Florida's property insurance market was already under stress. Ian could make it worse
Becky Sullivan

Even before Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida last week, the state's property insurance market was already in its own state of disaster.

Homeowners in Florida pay the highest premiums in the country: nearly three times the national average, according to the Insurance Information Institute, an industry group. And Floridians' premiums are rising much faster — about 33% each year — than the typical American's annual increase of 9%.

But in Florida, hurricanes aren't the only factor driving up costs. Rampant litigation and soaring reinsurance costs are other components, experts say.

Six insurance carriers have declared insolvency this year alone. Others have dropped customers or stopped writing new policies. As a result, the number of policyholders on the state-backed insurer of last resort, Citizens Property Insurance, has ballooned.

Now, as Floridians look to recover from an estimated tens of billions of dollars in damage caused by the Category 4 storm, some have worried that Ian could be the final straw for even more private insurers, driving up costs and sending Florida's precarious insurance market closer to catastrophe.

"The simple truth is you can't be the most hurricane-prone state and the most litigious state, and expect lower property insurance rates," said state Sen. Jeff Brandes, whose district covers part of Pinellas County in the Tampa Bay region, which avoided the worst of Ian.

Even though no hurricane made landfall on Florida in 2020 or 2021, the state's insurance industry reported net underwriting losses exceeding $1 billion each year. Even before Ian, 2022 was already projected to be the same.

The average premium for homeowners has topped ...

https://www.npr.org/2022/10/06/11270838 ... -insurance

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