If Isaias turns into a hurricane and hits the Florida Panhandle on Oct. 9, as forecast, a population of more than 1.4 million lies in its path. The number of those that are insured property owners is less clear.
Market intelligence reports from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation do not include property insurers that consider their data to be “trade secrets” and who elect not to make monthly and quarterly reports to OIR
. Some of the largest carriers in Florida, including State Farm Florida, Universal Property & Casualty, and Slide Insurance, for example, do not show up on the OIR reports—but are likely to carry some of the largest numbers of property policies in the region.
For those carriers that do report, American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida, part of Assurant, and the state-created Citizens Property Insurance Corp. hold the most policies with wind coverage in the 10-county area most li
kely to be hit by Isaias if it continues on its predicted path. The numbers include commercial and residential policies, from Pensacola to the Big Bend.
As of the end of July, the latest data available, American Bankers had 10,630 policies with wind coverage, but just $267 million in value in the 10 Panhandle counties. Citiz
ens, which has shed more than a million policies statewide in the last three years, reported 8,882 policies with wind, and more than $3.2 billion in value in the Panhandle.
“Citizens is monitoring Hurricane Isaias and will be ready to respond. We urge Citizens’ policyholders and all Panhandle residents to prepare now,” Citizens’ media relations manager said Wednesday. Citizens did not provide the number of policyholders that now carry flood insurance, in keeping with state law.
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American Bankers also said it plans to have teams available where needed.
“We are closely monitoring the storm and have reached out to potentially affected policyholders so they know what to expect and where to turn if they need us,” an Assurant spokesperson said in an email Wednesday. “Our exp
erienced claims teams are coordinating with our network of partners, and we stand ready to scale our efforts and deploy additional resources to help customers navigate recovery and move forward as quickly as possible.”
Other insurers that reported thousands of policyholders in the Panhandle include Florida Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance, which had $6.1 billion in exposure on 8,351 policies in the area. Castle Key Indemnity and Castle Key Insurance, both of which are Allstate units, together reported 7,465 policies with almost $1.7 billion in exposure in the area.
Cypress Insurance, owned by Berkshire Hathaway, reported almost $2.2 billion of exposure in the region and some 4,900 policies with wind coverage.
For the larger Gulf Coast region that may be affected by Isaias, including all of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, State Farm companies insure the most homeowners, with $2.8 billion in direct premiums written, AM Best financial rating agency reported Wednesday.
The 10-county northwest Florida area in the crosshairs includes mid-size cities, two U.S. Air Force bases, multiple resort areas with condominiums, as well as farms and some sparsely populated stretches. The extent of insured losses will depend on the intensity of the storm, where the eyewall moves ashore, the size of the storm surge and amount of rainfall.
