With Hurricane Milton soon making landfall along Florida’s western and gulf coasts Wednesday, the state’s chief finance officer and fire marshal is hoping to ease worries around preparedness, aftermath insurance costs and taxes.
“It really depends on how the impact and damage of the storm is. Right now, as the path of the storm that is proposed, you’re looking at somewhere north of $10, maybe $20 billion worth of insured losses,” Jimmy Patronis said on “Varney & Co.” Tuesday.
“The carriers in the state of Florida, they have been able to raise the type of capital in order to handle the storm. We’ve got nine new companies coming into the state. But everything that we’re focused on right now is the urban search and rescue preparedness,” he continued.
“We’ve got resources in from all corners of the country, 1,200 urban search and rescue first responders preparing to deploy out as soon as the storm passes.”
Florida cities such as Hialeah, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and West Palm Beach all rank high for risk of natural disasters, and pay some of the highest insurance premiums.
Data released by Insurify, an online insurance comparison website, showed a household’s insurance rate surged nearly 20% between 2021 and 2023, with an additional 6% expected before the year’s end.
Florida’s average homeowners insurance rate is estimated to be around $11,000 per year, but Insurify said that could clock in closer to $12,000 with proposed rate increases.
Read more at FoxNews.com
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