Irma Insurance Claims Mount In Florida

Sept. 21--Nearly 15,000 property owners in Southwest Florida have filed insurance claims for damages from Hurricane Irma.

They are among the 496,532 holders of residential and commercial properties throughout the state who are reporting a combined $3 billion in insured losses from the massive storm, according to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation.

Those numbers are expected to mount as more home and business owners assess their damages from Irma.

Analysts have provided a range of estimated property damage from Irma. Some say the destruction might have been far worse had Irma made landfall into Florida's east coast, as first forecast, rather than followed its path into the Florida Keys and Marco Island and up the spine of the state.

Fitch Ratings says estimated insured losses for the industry could run from $25 billion to $50 billion. Data analyzer CoreLogic said total damages could reach $65 billion.

"Irma's path through Florida will make it one of the largest hurricane losses in history, with insured losses comparable with those experienced from Hurricane Andrew in 1992, adjusted for inflation," Fitch said in a report.

In Sarasota County, 6,108 property owners had filed claims as of midweek. Three hundred have been paid, and another 256 were closed without payment, OIR data showed.

Manatee County reported 4,841 claims, with 250 paid and 203 closed with no payment.

A total of 4,015 claims came from Charlotte County, with 167 paid and 134 closed without payment.

Wind damage will account for most of the insurance claims from Irma, Fitch said. Storm surge damage was strongest in the Keys, Marco Island and Jacksonville.

"Storm surge was significantly lower than anticipated in areas that included Naples, Sarasota and Tampa Bay, as the storm's inland path limited coastal flooding," the company said.

CoreLogic forecasts up to $15 billion in wind damage, which is typically covered by private insurers and, in Florida, by the state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

Flood losses could hit $38 billion, and up to 80 percent of damaged homes may not have flood coverage.

Miami-Dade leads the state with 55,012 claims so far, followed by Orange County with 44,696 and Broward County with 38,836, OIR reported.

Most of the Florida claims, 86 percent, cover residential properties, such as single-family homes, condos and mobile homes. About 4 percent come from commercial property owners, and the rest from other lines of business, flood and business interruption.

OIR had earlier declined to provide a county breakdown of insurance claims, saying the companies considered that information trade secrets. But the agency said it later convinced insurers to waive that assertion so it could report local data.

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