After the state was triple hit by Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton, Floridians are working to recover. But for many, it raises questions about property insurance, ranging from how they can get their claims paid to what they should do if they don’t have it.

Shawnda Palmer lives in Perry, Florida. Last year, the city was not only hit by Hurricane Idalia, but its factory – the city’s main source of income – closed. This year, hurricanes Debby and then Helene hit the region. Palmer doesn’t have homeowner’s insurance, which she says is too expensive for most people who live there.

“Nobody does it in Perry,” she said, “because, like I said, the main sources of money there are closed, and like all of us little people, we don’t we don’t have that kind of money to take out home insurance. It’s scandalous!

Palmer speaks on the phone as he returns home to Perry after Hurricane Helene. She says she was able to return home thanks to her family.

“Mine was passed down, that’s how I got one, and that’s how most people got one,” she said. “They’ve been passed down or owned by their family for years, and they’ve grown with them and stuff like that.”

Experts say more uninsured homes in rural areas like Perry often mean a slower recovery time after storms. But Palmer is confident the community can make it happen.

“Everyone loves Perry and is from there,” Palmer said. “I was born there, I grew up there… They will all come together, everyone will come together and rebuild whatever needs to be done. So no matter what, we can be targeted for as long as possible and everyone will always rebuild. They’re not going anywhere.

Even for those with insurance, recovery is still far away.

As of Thursday, the state’s Office of Insurance Regulation was reporting insurance claims for Milton approaching 200,000 and $2.3 billion in estimated insured losses. For Hélène, losses are estimated at $1.3 billion. And for Hurricane Debby, it’s $131 million.

State insurance officials have issued orders to protect policyholders affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. They apply to all insurers in the state and to policyholders in most counties. The order extends grace periods for any policy, provision, notice, correspondence, or law imposing a deadline.

And it prohibits the termination or non-renewal of a contract in an impacted area, unless requested in writing by the policyholder. Meanwhile, the state’s insurer of last resort, Citizens Property Insurance, says he remains in good health.

“We are here for our policyholders, we are in good financial shape and we will be there when they need us,” said Michael Peltier, a spokesperson for Citizens Property Insurance.

The company currently has more than 1.2 million policyholders, but Peltier says Citizens has the financial resources to handle claims, including Milton’s.

The state-backed Citizens program was created to always work because the insurer can impose additional fees on most Floridians’ insurance policies to help cover its costs.

“If we exhaust our reserves, reinsurance coverage and other protections — the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, for example — we are forced to impose surcharges on our policyholders first,” he said. “And if there is still a deficit, then we are required to levy assessments on all Florida insurance consumers – or most of them, anyway. Auto, boat, property owners, this kind of things.

Peltier says that while citizens will always be able to pay claims, the more they rise, the more they will run the risk of having to impose contributions not only on their own policyholders, but also on Florida insurance consumers who are not even not insured citizens.

“Our board of governors, our CEO, the governor and others are trying to do our best to minimize the risk that we have to do this,” Peltier said.

Citizens Property Insurance works to reduce the number of people who rely on state-guaranteed insurance. Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature have made efforts to stabilize Florida’s insurance market, in part by reducing the ability to sue to obtain claims. But it’s unclear whether these changes will have an impact.

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