Hurricane Debby Florida Losses Top $121M; 60% of Claims Closed

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A month after Hurricane Debby made landfall in northern Florida, the number of property insurance claims has reached almost 20,000, and total estimated insured losses are more than $121.5 million, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation reported this week.

The number of claims from Debby is approaching the 25,000 filed in the 10 weeks after Hurricane Idalia struck the same Big Bend area last year. But the dollar amount of losses from Debby, so far, is less than half that of Idalia’s total.

Most of the claims from Debby, which hit Aug. 5, are from residential properties. Only about 207 private flood insurance claims have been recorded, OIR’s tally shows. Some 5,462 claims have been closed with payment, but 6,447 were closed without payment, suggesting that much of the damage left by Debby was actually from flooding and storm surge – damage not generally covered by property insurance and wind policies.

Some 60% of Debby claims were closed by Sept. 6. For Idalia, 76% were closed after 10 weeks.

Florida law requires insurers to report claims data regularly after storms. Gallagher Re said in August that the losses from Hurricane Debby should be very manageable for the insurance industry.

Top photo: Protective measures are made to a business ahead of Hurricane Debby in Cedar Key, Florida, on Aug. 4.

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