Hurricane Milton losses may deplete US insurers' catastrophe budgets: S&P Global

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Hurricane Milton losses could fully deplete American insurers' 2024 catastrophe budgets, according to a report by the S&P Global.

The agency said it assumes insurers' exposure to property business in the US state of Florida is less than 33% of their total insurance business.

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, which provides both windstorm coverage and general property insurance for home-owners who could not obtain insurance elsewhere, was Florida's largest homeowners insurer by premiums written in 2023, it said Wednesday in a statement.

In the last five years, Citizens' market share in Florida's personal property insurance market has jumped significantly to reach 18.6% in 2023, from 5.2% in 2019, while it became the 10th biggest insurance writer for homeowners in the US.

"Given that many primary insurers are already close to 2024 catastrophe budgets based on first-half catastrophe losses, we believe the potential losses from Hurricane Milton, combined with other weather-related losses so far, could fully exhaust their 2024 catastrophe budgets," said the statement.

Hurricane Milton slammed into Florida's Gulf Coast on Wednesday night as a Category 3 storm packing 145 mile (233 kilometer) per hour winds, instantly destroying homes and buildings upon making landfall near Sarasota.