Hurricane Milton and Helene claims total $5.7 billion across Florida, but only half of insurance claims have been paid
Florida – Many Florida residents have been struggling with the insurance in the aftermath of Hurricanes Milton and Helene last year. Only roughly half of the approximately 329,000 residential property insurance claims registered with the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (FLOIR) have been paid, according recent data. These figures create a complicated picture of the post-storm insurance landscape.
Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend area as a Category 4 storm on September 26, 2024, was followed closely by Hurricane Milton, a Category 3 storm that hit Florida’s Gulf Coast south of Tampa. Mostly through strong winds, both hurricanes inflicted significant damage; flooding is an additional consideration, but usually covered under another, government sponsored program.
Locke Burt, CEO of Security First Insurance Co., one of Florida’s leading home insurers, sheds light on the situation in an interview with Realtor.com. Of the almost 5,000 claims his company received in connection with Hurricane Milton, Burt notes that roughly 25% have been settled with payouts and another 15% are under process. Still, 16% remain open without payment; many of these claims are either new or pending until contractors are ready to evaluate and fix the damage.
Burt reveals that a good number of the claims are closed without payment because of Florida’s high deductibles.
“The deductibles in Florida are big. The normal hurricane deductible for most people is 2% of the value of the house. So if your house is valued at $400,000, that’s an $8,000 deductible,” he explains.
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About 20 percent of claims were also outright denied, usually since the kind of damage claimed was not covered by the homeowners’ policy. To meet criteria for seeking federal flood insurance claims, some homeowners intentionally submit claims for such damages, knowing refusal.
“Another reason that we deny coverage is because there’s a significant number of people in Florida who buy a policy that excludes wind damage, and they forget that their policy excludes wind damage,” says Burt. “It’s not because we’re being bad guys.”
Burt compliments Florida for its openness in allowing insurance claim data to be easily available online, therefore informing the public on the handling of claims. This transparency is crucial, he contends, if one wants to grasp the complexity of insurance coverage following natural disasters.
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With Milton credited with $2.4 billion and Helene with $500 million excluding federal flood insurance, the total payment for residential property insurance claims in Florida has reached notable levels. Including car and business policies, total payouts come out to be $5.7 billion. Many Floridians still have challenges rebuilding and recovering from last year’s devastating storms, despite these large payouts; delays and denials still irritate many of them.
Click here for the full interview and available data.
