Hurricane Isaias claims top $580 million

TALLAHASSEE Insured losses in Florida from Hurricane Isaias so far approach $582 million as claims start to roll in from the Oct. 9 storm, according to the Office of Insurance Regulation.

As of Tuesday, early 55,000 claims linked to the storm have been filed across the state, with the majority from the western Panhandle. More than 26,000 claims have been filed in Santa Rosa County, nearly 17,000 in Escambia County, about 5,200 in Okaloosa County, more than 2,000 in Walton County and almost 2,000 in Bay County.

About 47,000 claims are tied to residential property, but they also cover auto and commercial properties, along with business interruptions and other business lines.

Risk analytics from Moody’s RMS estimated the losses across multiple states will be between $2.5 billion to $4.5 billion from the Category 2 storm that made landfall near Destin. Bostonbased Karen Clark & Company, a prominent risk-management and catastrophe modeling software firm, estimated privately insured losses nationally at $3 billion.

“The most severe impacts were concentrated in the coastal cities and towns of the Florida Panhandle, like Destin, Pensacola Beach, and Navarre,” the flash estimate from Karen Clark & Company stated Oct. 15. “Major damage has also been observed in towns around Pensacola Bay, such as Milton and Pace” Moody’s called the damages “manageable” “Thankfully, the storm encountered strong wind shear as it approached landfall, which disrupted its structure and weakened the wind field consid- erably” Jeff Waters, Director of North Atlantic hurricane models for Moody’s, stated.

Karen Clark & Company didn’t include National Flood Insurance Program claims, which Moody’s RMS estimated at $250 million.

Moody’s RMS put most of the losses on wind damage.

Last Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that the Florida Division of Emergency Management submitted a request to President Donald Trump for a major disaster declaration following Isaias.

The request seeks roughly $237 million in federal resources to support affected communities across northwest Florida, including public assistance for 15 counties and individual assistance for eligible residents in eight designated counties.

Six deaths in Florida have been linked to the storm.

Of the claims filed, just over 3,500 have been closed with some payment and nearly 8,500 have already been closed without any payment. Of the claims that remain open, 1,454 had already resulted in some level of payment.

By comparison, losses in Florida attributed to Hurricane Milton in October 2024 were $5.6 billion, with 385,146 claims filed. The 155,182 claims submitted after Hurricane Helene came ashore in the Big Bend Region in last September 2024 resulted in $2.58 billion in losses.

Milton made landfall near Siesta Key in Sarasota County and Helene landed west-southwest of Perry in Taylor County.

Hurricane Michael, which made landfall on the Panhandle at Mexico Beach as a Category 5 storm with 160 mph sustained winds on Oct. 10, 2018, resulted in $9.1 billion in losses in Florida. Nearly 159,000 claims were filed after Michael, of which almost 130,000 resulted in some payment.

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