According to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (FLOIR), home insurers in Florida have rejected tens of thousands of claims from property owners for damage caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

As of Friday, 19,068 of a total of 57,415 housing applications due to Hurricane Helene had been completed without payment. As of Monday, 27,834 of a total of 202,989 residential property claims related to damage caused by Hurricane Milton have been settled without payment. In both cases, the number of denied claims exceeded the number of settled claims.

Although FLOIR does not provide an explanation as to why these claims were denied, it is likely that these claims did not meet the deductible – the amount policyholders are expected to pay before the insurance plan begins paying – or were not covered by the homeowner Insurance policy. Another possibility is that the policyholders making claims are unreachable by the insurance company.

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Mark Friedlander, director of corporate communications at the Insurance Information Institute, said previously Newsweek that the denied claims are most likely “primarily flood damage that is not covered by standard property insurance, condo insurance or flood insurance. You need flood insurance to cover flood damage,” he added.

The two hurricanes in Florida accounted for predominantly residential damage claims, including commercial real estate, residential flooding, business interruption, and commercial and personal automobile insurance claims.

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FLOIR's data shows that Florida homeowners, already hit by skyrocketing premiums in recent years, likely took another hit when the two hurricanes hit the states' Gulf Coast between late September and early October and within less than one year caused devastating damage in the region for two weeks.

While the losses caused by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton are still being fully assessed, FLOIR estimates that the total estimated insured losses for Hurricane Helene are $1,437,491,638 and for Hurricane Milton are $2,878,981,114.

How many claims have not been paid?

Hurricane Helene

According to FLOIR, as of October 25, a total of 127,066 claims have been filed with Florida insurers related to damage from Hurricane Helene. Of these, 57,415 were claims on residential properties.

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To date, 23,450 of all claims have been settled without payment, with the vast majority of these (19,068) involving home ownership claims. In comparison, a total of 29,373 claims were settled with payments, including 10,460 housing claims.

Hurricane Milton

As of October 28, 253,452 claims related to damage from Hurricane Milton have been reported to insurers in Florida. Of these, 202,989 were claims on residential properties.

In this case, the number of claims closed without payment (32,016) is slightly higher than the number of claims closed with payment (28,088). Regarding housing claims, 27,834 were completed without payment and 17,076 with payment.

Newsweek contacted FLOIR via email Tuesday morning for comment.

Do you live in Florida and your home insurer has denied your insurance claim? Contact [email protected].