Hail: The “Death by 1,000 Paper Cuts” Peril By Lewis Nibbelin, Contributing Writer, Triple-I Earlier this year, baseball-sized hailstones in Denver totaled vehicles and pummeled homes and businesses during the second-costliest hailstorm in Colorado history, equating to billions in damages. Melon-sized stones hit Texas the same month, downing power lines and requiring snow plows to […]
Resilience Investments Paid Off in Florida During Hurricane Milton
Resilience Investments Paid Off in Florida During Hurricane Milton By Lewis Nibbelin, Contributing Writer, Triple-I Babcock Ranch – a small community in southwestern Florida dubbed “The Hometown of Tomorrow” – made headlines for sheltering thousands of evacuees and never losing power during Hurricane Milton, which devastated numerous neighboring cities and left more than three million […]
Hurricane Helene Highlights InlandFlood Protection Gap
Hurricane Helene Highlights InlandFlood Protection Gap By Lewis Nibbelin, Contributing Writer, Triple-I Spanning over 500 miles of the southeastern United States, Hurricane Helene’s path of destruction has drawn public attention to inland flood risk and the need for improved resilience planning and insurance purchase (“take up”) to confront the protection gap. Extreme rainfall and wind […]
Florida InsurersCan Weather AnotherBig Storm This Season
Florida InsurersCan Weather AnotherBig Storm This Season Despite warnings from two leading insurance rating agencies that Hurricane Milton weakened or threatened Florida’s recovering home insurance market, the market “can manage losses” from the Category 4 storm “and are ready to cover yet another hurricane,” if one should come this season, according to industry experts who […]
Removing Incentivesfor Development From High-Risk Areas Boosts Flood Resilience
Removing Incentivesfor Development From High-Risk Areas Boosts Flood Resilience (Photo by Jonathan Sloane/Getty Images) By Lewis Nibbelin, Contributing Writer, Triple-I Withdrawing federal subsidies in climate-vulnerable areas can deter development and promote disaster resilience, according to a recent Nature Climate Change study. The study found that these benefits extend beyond the targeted areas. These findings underscore […]
CSU: Post-Helene, 2 More “Above Normal” Weeks Of Storm Activity Expected
CSU: Post-Helene, 2 More “Above Normal” Weeks Of Storm Activity Expected(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) As work continues to address the harm inflicted by Hurricane Helene, researchers at Colorado State University (CSU) warn that the next two weeks “will be characterized by [tropical storm] activity at above normal levels.” The CSU researchers define “above normal” […]
Triple-I Experts Speakon Climate Risk, Resilience
Triple-I Experts Speakon Climate Risk, Resilience Hurricane Beryl’s rapid escalation from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane does not bode well for the 2024 Atlantic Hurricane season, which is already projected to be of above-average intensity, warns Triple-I non-resident scholar Dr. Philip Klotzbach. “This early-season storm activity is breaking records that were set […]
Florida Homeowners Premium Growth Slowsas Reforms Take Hold, Inflation Cools
Florida Homeowners Premium Growth Slowsas Reforms Take Hold, Inflation CoolsHomeowners insurance premium growth in Florida has slowed since the state implemented legal system abuse reforms in 2022, according to a Triple-I analysis. As shown in the chart below, average annual premiums climbed sharply after 2020. This was due in part to inflation spurred by the […]
Accurately WritingFlood Coverage Hinges on Diverse Data Sources
Accurately WritingFlood Coverage Hinges on Diverse Data Sources Flood risk is not only one of the most destructive perils facing property owners; it is among the most complicated forms of coverage for property/casualty insurers to underwrite. For decades, the private market wouldn’t cover flood risk, which is why the National Flood Insurance Program had to […]
Legal Reforms Boost Florida Insurance Market; Premium Relief Will Require More Time
Legal Reforms Boost Florida Insurance Market; Premium Relief Will Require More Time Legislative reforms put in place in 2022 and early 2023 to address legal system abuse and assignment-of-benefits claim fraud in Florida are beginning to help the state’s property/casualty insurance market recover from its crisis of recent years, according to a new Triple-I Issues […]
2024 Wildfires Expected to Be Up From Last Year, But Still Below Average
2024 Wildfires Expected to Be Up From Last Year, But Still Below Average The 2024 U.S. wildfire season is expected to be more damaging than 2023 but below the historical average in terms of the number of fires and acres burned, according to AccuWeather. AccuWeather’s wildfire team predicts fires across the country will burn between […]
CSU Researchers Project “Extremely Active”2024 Hurricane Season
CSU Researchers Project “Extremely Active”2024 Hurricane Season Colorado State University hurricane researchers predict an “extremely active” Atlantic hurricane season in their initial 2024 forecast. The team cites record-warm tropical and eastern subtropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures as a primary factor for their prediction of 11 hurricanes this year. Led by senior research scientist and Triple-I […]