Florida Hurricane Insurance Claims Surpass $5 Billion

Florida insurance claims for damage caused by hurricanes Helene and Milton have surpassed $5 billion.

Helene made landfall in the Big Bend area on September 26 as a Category 4 storm with winds up to 140 mph and torrential rains that resulted in the flooding of Asheville, North Carolina, and a total death toll of over 232 people over six states.

Milton struck the Gulf Coast on October 9 as a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 180 mph. Behind Hurricane Rita in 2005, Milton was the second-most intense storm ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico. The hurricane caused 35 deaths across the United States and 3 in Mexico, with Florida state health officials also warning of "life-threatening" bacterial infections in the wake of the storm.

Latest data from the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) in Florida reveals that Hurricanes Helene and Milton have racked up a combined $5.2 billion in claims.

For Milton, there have been a total of 300,955 claims within Florida worth $3.17 billion. This is an increase on the November 8 reported figure of $3.038 billion claims.

Of these claims, the majority (240,720) are for residential property and over 62.3 percent of these claims have now been closed. A separate 11,585 claims have been filed for damage to commercial property.

In terms of Hurricane Helene, the price tag is estimated by the OIR to be $1.99 billion with 135,505 claims filed within Florida.

This latest OIR data also reveals that the number of claim denials for Milton and Helene has passed 100,000. This is up from a reported 37,000 claims on at the end of October.

In terms of claims filed for damages caused by Milton, 76,838 were closed without payment. The number of failed claims for Helene is significantly lower, with only 29,295 being closed without payment.

Insurance claims can be denied for a variety of reasons, including fraudulent claims, missed premium payments, insufficient information, missed filing deadlines or due to flood damage that is not generally covered under homeowners insurance policies.

Claims can also be closed if the damage is below the deductible. For Milton, the total number of claims closed for this reason is so far 32,337 and 8,919 for Helene.

Significant agricultural damage and losses have also been reported as a result of Hurricanes Milton and Helene.

New data from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) estimates that at least $40 million in agricultural damage was caused by Helene, with 6.1 million acres affected.

Meanwhile, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services estimates that Milton caused between $1.5 and $2.5 billion of losses to Florida's agricultural industry.