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Hurricane Michael is estimated to have caused more than $4 billion in insured losses, officials have revealed.
Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) made the projection, based on the thousands of claims filed related to the hurricane event. As of Friday, 129,876 claims had been filed, with estimated insured losses of $4.01 billion.
According to the state agency, most of the claims filed – 86,936, to be precise – involved residential properties.
News Service of Florida reported that among Florida’s counties, Bay County had the most claims, with 78,185. The community is followed by Jackson County, with 12,996; Leon County, with 8,970; Gulf County, with 7,439; Gadsden County, with 5,472; and Calhoun County, with 3,830.
So how do OIR’s estimates compare to earlier approximations?
In October, catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide projected insured losses stemming from Hurricane Michael to range from $6 billion to $10 billion. A professor of financial risk management and insurance from the University of South Carolina had pegged insured losses at a slightly higher range, from $8 billion to $11 billion.
