Homeowners worry about insurance premiums after two hurricanes

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Homeowners question whether Florida’s already fragile property insurance market can handle back-to-back hurricane damage.

These questions linger even as homeowners are still navigating assessing damage and filing claims to help rebuild.

Some, such as Janet Stinnett, moved to Bradenton years ago to enjoy the Florida retiree lifestyle. She said when her insurance company left the state last year, she couldn’t find an affordable rate elsewhere.

That’s when she decided to take her chances and gamble with no insurance.

“They add on water damage,” Stinnett said. “They add on hurricane damage. you’ve got to pay for each thing you want, and then they have a lot of restrictions too. It’s out of control.”

While Hurricane Milton seriously damaged some of her neighbors’ homes, Stinnett said her damage is minimal, and she’ll pay out of pocket for repairs.

She wants lower rates so she can afford insurance again, but she fears it will just keep going up.

She’s not alone.

With adjusters surveying damage from back-to-back Hurricane Helene and Milton, there are serious questions about how stable the property insurance market is now.

Florida’s CFO Jimmy Patronis said Florida learned lessons from Hurricane Ian, and he believes the insurance market is strong enough to handle these claims.

“So we then have to increase the amount of capital they have to do business in the state of Florida, whether it be because of the violent nature of the storms, the cost of the damage, so for these carriers to continue to do business in the state of Florida, we increase their requirements to do that,” Patronis said. “This is something we prepare for.”

“As of yesterday, Milton had generated about 104,000 claims with $1.3 billion in losses,” Patronis added. “I don’t think this is going to be an Ian. Ian generated almost 800,000 in claims and 21 billion in losses.”

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