Fact file: Florida hurricane insurance

by | Nov 12, 2020 | Flood Insurance, Hurricane, Uncategorized

Fact file: Florida hurricane insurance

November 2020

  • Six of the 10 costliest hurricanes in U.S. history have impacted Florida. Three of these storms occurred within just two years: 2004 and 2005. (See chart.)
  • The costliest hurricane, based on insured property losses to Florida, was 1992’s Hurricane Andrew. It caused $25.9 billion in damage to Florida and Louisiana (in 2019 dollars). (See chart.)
  • Standard homeowners policies typically do not cover flood damage. Flood insurance is covered by the federally managed National Flood Insurance Program, but private flood insurance is becoming increasingly available.
  • Florida leads the nation in the number of flood policies, according to the National Flood Insurance Program, with about 1.8 million policies in force in 2019.
  • About 98 percent of the total population of Florida lives in one of the coastal counties. The number of people living in coastal areas in Florida increased by 4.2 million, or 27 percent, from 15.6 million in 2000 to 19.8 million in 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
  • In Florida, 2.9 million single-family homes were at risk in 2020 for storm surge damage from hurricanes up to Category 5 strength, according to CoreLogic, Inc. These homes would cost $581 billion to completely rebuild, including labor and materials.
  • After its establishment in 2002, when the state passed legislation combining two separate high-risk insurance pools known as the Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association and the Florida Residential Property & Casualty Joint Underwriting Association, Citizens Property Insurance Corp. (CPIC) experienced exponential growth. As a result, Florida Citizens has evolved from a market of last resort to the state’s largest property insurer.
  • Florida Citizens Property Insurance Corp. provides multiperil and wind-only insurance coverage to Florida homeowners, commercial residential and commercial business property owners.
  • Direct homeowners insurance premiums in Florida written by Citizens was $490.9 million in 2018 down from $795 million in 2014.
  • Citizens was the state’s fourth leading homeowners insurer in 2018, with a market share of 5.11 percent, down from 9.1 percent in 2014.
  • Florida Citizens had 346,227 policies as of March 31, 2020.

Get you homeowners insurance, flood insurance and auto insurance from Jones Family Insurance. Serving Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, Cape Coral and Fort Myers Florida.