Hurricane Irma insurance claims in Florida reach $3.9 billion

The total amount of insured losses estimated from insurance claims filed in Florida following hurricane Irma has now reached over $3.85 billion, up another 25% since September 21st according to the insurance regulator.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation now reports that Hurricane Irma’s impact on the state has resulted in over 605,500 claims filed by 4.00pm local time on September 26th, with the total loss estimated at just under $3.9 billion.

At 4pm local time on the 18th September the reported insurance claims figure stood at 335,000 claims filed, with 4.5% of claims closed and a total estimated cost of $1.955 billion.

Then, as at 11.25am local time on the 21st September, the number of claims filed rose to almost 500,000, with 9.3% closed and an estimated insured cost of $3.076 billion.

Now, the number has risen again, with the latest update from the regulator showing the 605,500 claims filed, 14.3% now closed and the $3.9 billion bill for insurance and reinsurance interests to pay.

Over 51,000 hurricane Irma claims have now been paid, which suggests an average claim size of around $75k, based on the number closed and the estimate.

Commercial claims continue to close more slowly than homeowners, with only 3.5% of commercial residential closed and 8.9% of commercial property, compared to 12.7% of homeowners and 13.4% of mobile home related claims.

Over half a million of the claims are residential though, as this is making up the bulk of hurricane Irma’s impacts, with just 25,214 commercial property claims filed so far in Florida.

One point that reinsurance interests will want to watch out for, is the potential for claims to be shifted from water to wind and vice versa. We’re told this could make an already complex claims situation even more so, with lawyer advertising potentially a driver of significant inflation in the final industry loss bill.

Almost 520,000 hurricane Irma insurance claims remain open though, so there is a long way to go before the final bill for reinsurance capital to pay becomes clear.