Florida Property Insurers In Good Shape As Hurricane Season Starts

A decade without a devastating hurricane has left Florida in the strongest position ever to face the annual storm season that begins in June. The property insurance market is thriving and the state has dramatically decreased the size of Citizens Property Insurance, the state-backed insurer. The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe fund, a program that backs up the private market as well as Citizens, is also flush with enough cash to able to financially withstand a major storm. Even if a major metropolitan area was struck by a destructive Category 5 hurricane, with winds over 157 mph, projections show Citizens and the Cat fund have enough reserves to avoid imposing a multi-year assessment, or “hurricane tax.”