Climate in the 21st Century

DIY-HP-LED said:

Republicans will pass laws and force them to do business there, climate change is a hoax to them.

Click to expand...

printer said:

Insurers pull back from vulnerable states amid climate risks
The insurance industry is increasingly wary of the risks presented by climate and natural disasters, prompting major firms to scale back their presence in more vulnerable states.

In June, Farmers Insurance announced in a company memo it will no longer write new property insurance policies in Florida, citing “catastrophe costs … at historically high levels.” Earlier in the month, AIG stopped issuing policies along the Sunshine State’s hurricane-vulnerable coastline.

Those followed State Farm, California’s largest homeowners’ insurer, which in May announced a moratorium on new policies in the state, blaming “rapidly growing catastrophe exposure.” The decision came after years of devastating wildfires have sent insurance rates in California skyrocketing.

Eric Andersen, president of consulting firm Aon plc, said in testimony before the Senate Budget Committee in March that reinsurance companies — the firms that help insurers pay out costs — have also stepped back from high-risk areas, particularly those vulnerable to flooding and wildfires.

“Just as the U.S. economy was overexposed to mortgage risk in 2008, the economy today is overexposed to climate risk,” he said.

The industry is feeling the pinch beyond the East and West coasts, as well, according to Mark Friedlander, director of corporate communications at the Insurance Information Institute. He noted that dozens of firms have reduced their presence in Louisiana, including 50 that have stopped writing new policies in the state’s hurricane-prone parishes.

“This isn’t just a story about Florida and California — all over the country, there are insurers who are less willing to take risks,” from those along major rivers to areas vulnerable to tornadoes, said Benjamin Keys, an assistant professor of real estate at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Louisiana, in particular, has gotten less attention than California and Florida, but the state’s insurance industry has been steamrolled by recent intense storm seasons.

“Many smaller, undercapitalized insurers in Louisiana were not able to handle the volume of losses from the 2020-2021 hurricane season,” Friedlander said.

The industry, which has historically taken a more reactive approach to disasters, is shifting its strategy as such events become harder to ignore, he added.

“The industry’s taking the approach now of what’s called predict and prevent, meaning being proactive to address climate risk and make sure insurance coverage reflects that and make sure homes and business take preventative action,” Friedlander told The Hill.

He noted that while Farmers made headlines, it’s the 15th insurer to stop writing new policies in Florida in the last 18 months. Although most of those companies have not pulled out of the state outright, he added, three have.

“Insurers are in many ways the first movers” in response to trends like extreme weather and natural disasters, Keys said. “They have a significant amount of money at stake, so they’re very exposed to the downside.”

Florida is in a unique position, Friedlander said, because of a combination of high fraud rates and widespread litigation, which both compound the cost of insurance on top of the climate risks. A state law enacted this year creates a backstop for property insurance in hopes of alleviating some costs, but it’s not yet clear how effectively it will counteract those factors, which have been building for years.

“The difference is in California and Louisiana, [insurance costs are] primarily climate-driven,” he said. “They don’t have the manmade factors we have here in Florida.”

Florida also has a longer history of insurers coming and going, Keys added, going back to Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the most destructive hurricane in terms of property damage in the state’s history.

“What that’s meant is that the insurer of last resort in the state, Citizens Insurance, has become the largest insurer in the state,” he said, on top of the federal flood insurance program.

“There isn’t an equivalent for wildfires in California, so the risks in California are borne much more directly.”

Keys also noted that the decisions don’t mean the insurers will never write policies or operate in the state again. Rather, he said, they should be understood as a way for insurers to negotiate, both on what they can charge in premiums and what factors they can weigh.

“It’s not that [insurers] don’t want to do business in your state, it’s that [they] don’t want to do business at the current premiums [they] can charge,” he said.

In the meantime, however, none of the climate risks and natural disasters in question show any signs of letting up.

In March, Florida’s state insurer said its funds were “significantly depleted” by 2022’s Hurricane Ian, and it will be forced to collect the deficit of $14 billion from policyholders if the state sees a major hurricane in 2023.

On the West Coast, the National Interagency Fire Center said at the beginning of June that it projects “likely above normal temperatures” in the West this summer.

“Clearly insurers are looking at this predict and prevent approach and they’re also addressing risk exposure and looking at where they can profitably do business,” Friedlander said. “We’re going to see more companies making similar decisions.”

Insurers pull back as US climate catastrophes intensify

CORRECTION: Eric Andersen is the president of consulting firm Aon plc. A previous version of this story included incorrect information. The insurance industry is increasingly wary of the risks pres…

thehill.com

Click to expand...

Roger A. Shrubber said:

that means less businesses there as well. If they won't insure private homes, why would they insure commercial property a mile down the road?
That means less jobs, loss of tax revenue...insert Ouroboros image here...

Click to expand...

HGCC said:

...I want Florida to stay in Florida. Hope it doesn't cause an immigrant influx.

Look...they aren't sending their best people. Some get arrested for having sex with gators at Walmart, arrested for attacking people with fish, and im sure some are arrested for perfectly normal crimes. Maybe we need a big beautiful wall.

#keepfloridainflorida

Click to expand...

HGCC said:

Cuba might.

If we kick Florida out we could have good relations maybe. Would rather have cigars and doctors than a flaccid dong hanging off the bottom of our country.

Click to expand...

HGCC said:

...I want Florida to stay in Florida. Hope it doesn't cause an immigrant influx.

Look...they aren't sending their best people. Some get arrested for having sex with gators at Walmart, arrested for attacking people with fish, and im sure some are arrested for perfectly normal crimes. Maybe we need a big beautiful wall.

#keepfloridainflorida

Click to expand...

HGCC said:

Cuba might.

If we kick Florida out we could have good relations maybe. Would rather have cigars and doctors than a flaccid dong hanging off the bottom of our country.

Click to expand...

cannabineer said:

Heat snap in the desert. Sunday Weather Underground is calling for a high of 109, but once the forecast high tops 85 I have noticed a systematic lowballing of the numbers. Perhaps collusion with the Chamber of Commerce.

So it’s even odds that I’ll see the mercury touch 120. The killer is a low in the mid-70s. House is gonna get hot.

Numbers for not far from here

Ridgecrest, CA 10-Day Weather Forecast | Weather Underground

Ridgecrest Weather Forecasts. Weather Underground provides local & long-range weather forecasts, weatherreports, maps & tropical weather conditions for the Ridgecrest area.

www.wunderground.com

Click to expand...

DIY-HP-LED said:

A few thousand watts of rooftop solar panels would help power the AC on those hot sunny days!

Click to expand...

HGCC said:

Cuba might.

If we kick Florida out we could have good relations maybe. Would rather have cigars and doctors than a flaccid dong hanging off the bottom of our country.

Click to expand...