Public Hurricane Model Online

Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has announced that the data from the Florida Public Hurricane Model is now available on the Office of Insurance Regulation’s web site. The model makes available the various rating factors, credits, and other documentation, submitted by insurers as required to support premiums charged policyholders.

The public model is the culmination of several years’ work between state officials and scientists headed by Dr. Shahid Hamid, director of the Florida International University’s Hurricane Research Center. The legislature commissioned the model in 2001, in the midst of an ongoing controversy over the use of private models. The Florida legislature had previously created the Florida Hurricane Model Loss Commission, which consisted of state officials, industry representatives, and technical advisers. While the commission had access to the technical workings of the models, the information was shielded from public view by virtue of being classified as trade secrets. As a result, some elected officials baulked at the use of the models, saying they could be manipulated in favor of the industry.