Above, South Florida news report – the Federal Emergency Management Agency periodically has to update its flood maps to reflect increasing risks from rising sea levels, intense rainstorms like the deluge earlier this month, and as infrastructure no longer keeps up with climate change.
That means that right now, thousands of Floridians will be asked to provide proof of flood insurance, including those that wish to sign up with the taxpayer funded insurer of last resort, known as Citizens.
And impacts to property insurance well beyond Florida continue:
Insurance companies sought to raise homeowners’ premiums by more than 11% last year, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Analysts say insurance companies are trying to keep up with years of big losses as inflation and supply chain disruptions pushed up the costs to fix damaged homes. The Insurance Information Institute reports that insurers paid on average $1.10 for every $1 in premium they collected last year.
Then there’s climate change, which is intensifying extreme weather. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported 28 billion-dollar disaster events last year, a new record in the inflation-adjusted data going back to 1980.
“You have all these factors combining to result in people paying a lot more for the same amount of coverage,” said Zawacki of S&P Global Market Intelligence