Natural disasters

Watch Duty has emerged as a leader among scads of apps and online platforms for tracking fire.

The state has consistently ranked in the top two of the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety ratings for the past 12 years. Some of its building code rules are even stricter than internationally accepted standards.

As this year's natural disasters bring heightened attention to the cost and availability of homeowners insurance, servicers often find themselves caught in the middle when customers see premium hikes.

Hurricane Milton was moving off Florida's east coast after cutting a path of destruction through the state, leaving residents to assess the damage from one of the most feared storms in recent history.

Estimates for insured losses from Hurricane Helene have climbed to as much as $14 billion, even as insurers are preparing for more devastation from Hurricane Milton.

Total insured wind and flood losses are predicted to be between $10.5 billion and $17.5 billion, according to CoreLogic. Earlier estimates placed the cost of insured damages between $3 billion and $5 billion.

Tropical Storm Milton, with winds of 40 miles per hour, is forecast to build into at least a Category 3 hurricane with winds of 115 mph when it makes landfall in western Florida on Oct. 9, the US National Hurricane Center said.

Severe repetitive loss (SRL) properties are a growing category.

The destruction from Hurricane Helene is expected to cost insurers roughly $6.4 billion, according to an early estimate from catastrophe modeling firm Karen Clark & Company.

As historic floodwaters unleashed by Hurricane Helene recede across the U.S. Southeast, the region faces a humanitarian, economic and ecological crisis of staggering scope, with effects likely to last years.