The difference is the flooding
We also have updated insured damage estimates from Hurricane Ian to share with you, as well as some surprising new claims data from last November’s Hurricane Nicole. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) recently held an updated data call for the latest claims figures from insurance companies for both storms. Here’s the latest as of June 16, 2023, per OIR.
Hurricane Ian: Total estimated insured losses are now $16.7 billion on 738,441 reported claims (up from $13.9 billion on 708,255 claims from the previous March 9 update). Of the total, 85.8% of claims have been closed with 70% closed with payment and 30% without payment. Lee County, where Ian made landfall, has had the most claims at 263,285, followed by Charlotte County (103,604), Sarasota County (76,397), Collier (43,851), and Volusia County on Florida’s east coast (41,269). The vast majority are residential property claims (521,494) followed by “other lines” which include automobile, marine, fire and crop insurance (177,136), and then commercial property claims (34,453).
Flooding in downtown Daytona Beach from Hurricane Nicole, November 10, 2022
Hurricane Nicole: Total estimated insured losses are now $253 million on 28,092 reported claims (down from $396 million on 45,000 claims from the January 9 update) with 85.4% of claims closed with a closed paid to unpaid ratio of essentially 1 to 1. Volusia County has had the most claims at 4,168, followed by Brevard County (3,797), Orange County (3,328), and Duval County (1,450). This is very interesting: both the number of claims and the dollar loss totals fell from the January update. One can only draw the conclusion that given Nicole was much more of a flood than a wind event that homeowners initially filed claims not realizing flooding wasn’t covered by their homeowners policies and those claims have since been kicked out of the system. That’s a difference of 17,000 claims and $143 million! So these would be folks who paid a very dear price indeed and likely wished now that they had flood insurance. The number of closed claims paid was 12,039 and closed unpaid was 11,946, meaning carriers didn’t pay on nearly as many claims as they paid on, and would seem to bear-out the conclusion.
Realizing this, Seminole County officials (whose residents reported 1,009 insurance claims from Nicole and another 12,167 from Ian) are conducting updated basin studies given the widespread flooding during both storms. WESH-TV reports that in just the Westside, or Wekiva Basin study covering Altamonte Springs and north, consultants suggested that just under 3,400 parcels in county jurisdiction be added to the floodplain map. The county will be sharing the results with FEMA in hopes of updating their floodplain maps for the county. As we’ve said many times in these pages, “If it can rain, it can flood,” in Florida. All property owners should consider flood insurance, either from the National Flood Insurance Program or the growing number of private carriers offering coverage.
LMA Newsletter of 6-26-23
