Five Ways Hurricanes Increase Your Expenses in Florida
Climate change is making Florida more susceptible to hurricanes and flooding. Here's what you need to know about property and homeowners insurance.
People clear debris following Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers Beach, Florida.
Photographer: Giorgio Viera/AFP/Getty ImagesThe US hurricane season officially kicks off next week, and no other place in the country is more vulnerable to storm-related damage than Florida, the fastest-growing state in the nation. Last year, Hurricane Ian battered the state, killing almost 150 people and costing insurers roughly $63 billion.
Florida has an outsize susceptibility to climate events, with damages equaling almost 4% of the state’s annual gross domestic product since 2017, said Andrew John Stevenson, senior ESG climate analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Last year, Hurricane Ian resulted in a more than 10% hit to the economy when totaling up all of the property destruction, infrastructure spending and power outages, he said.