FEMA logs 44K Hurricane Ian flood claims
The agency estimates flood-related payouts from the late September Category 4 hurricane to be as much as $5.3 billion.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recently updated its projections of Hurricane Ian claims handled through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
The agency reported on Nov. 10, 2022, that so far 44,000 flood claims have filed through the NFIP, and it has paid nearly $437 million to policyholders as a result of Hurricane Ian. FEMA said it projects that Hurricane Ian could result in as much as $5.3 billion in NFIP claims losses. “The losses include flood insurance claims received from five states, with the majority of claims coming from Florida,” the agency said in a press release.
FEMA’s loss estimate is more conservative than what was previously reported by CoreLogic, which pegged total losses from Hurricane Ian to be between $41 billion and $70 billion, with $8 billion to $18 billion of that expected to be covered by the NFIP. The disparity in dollar amounts may be due to the fact that that storm caused more wind damage than flood damage, private flood insurance is managing the lion’s share of claims, or a notable portion of residents impacted by the storm were uninsured.
FEMA said it based in loss estimates on several data points including policy information, daily reports of claims and payments made, significant historical events patterns of reported claims and payments, current economic conditions and claim adjuster observations.
In addition to the NFIP, FEMA also administers a reinsurance program. The agency would need to incur at least $10 billion in flood insurance claims losses to be able to collect from its reinsurance program. “While Hurricane Ian is a significant flood insurance event that may trigger reinsurance payments, it will take several weeks for FEMA to determine if the NFIP is able to collect under its reinsurance agreements,” the agency said.
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