Florida's state-run insurance organizations have sufficientresources to help affected cities and towns rebuild in the wake ofHurricane Irma, according to Moody's InvestorServices.

That firm's Credit Outlook released Monday, Sept. 11, 2017,arrived days after Irma laid waste to several islands in theCaribbean. Irma was downgraded to from a Category 5 storm toCategory 4 after it reached the Florida Keys on Sept. 10, 2017. Butit still left destruction in its path across the SunshineState.

Related: Insurers rally from Florida to Europe as Irma fearsabate

Weather watchers predicted Hurricane Irma would be the strongestweather event in more than a decade, which caused FloridaGovernor Rick Scott to declare an early state ofemergency and order statewide evacuations.

S&P Global Ratings also was quick to liken the potentialdamage caused by Hurricane Irma to that of Hurricane Harvey, whichravaged Texas just weeks beforehand.

"Strong capitalization will help mitigate the impact, but Irmawill likely stress-test not only the re/insurers but also thestaying power of third-party capital," said S&P Global creditanalyst Hardeep Manku. "Regional pricing is also likely to harden,but the impact on global re/insurance pricing is debatable."

So far, Irma's reported death toll is 49 and climbing.

The damages tally so far is $30 million, according tothe Center for Disaster Management and Risk ReductionTechnology. This figure represents the storm's impact acrossthe Caribbean and the southern U.S.

Related: A $150 billion misfire: How disaster modelers gotIrma so wrong

Substantial financial resources

In its report, Moody's notes that both the Florida State Boardof Administration Finance Corporation, which administers theFloridaHurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF), and the Citizens PropertyInsurance Corp., which was created by the Florida legislaturein August 2002 as a not-for-profit, tax-exempt, government entityand covers personal and commercial properties, "have substantialfinance resources to help the State of Florida and itsmunicipalities rebuild from Hurricane Irma's damage," Moody's saidin a press release.

Moody's reports that Citizens is currently Florida'sthird-largest property insurer, and covers many vulnerable coastalproperties.

"Citizens has substantial resources to withstand damage claimsfrom Hurricane Irma because of the growth in its claims-payingresources and the reduction in its outstanding policies during thepast 11 years when no significant storms hit Florida," Moody'ssaid. "Consequently, Citizens' has built up significant resources,and projects that its current claims-paying ability exceeds $13.3billion."

Related: Hurricane Irma swamps Miami as $200 billion threathits land [photos]

The credit reporting agency added: "Citizens estimates aprobable maximum loss of $10.8 billion in a 1-in-250 year event.Given its $13.3 billion in resources, resources exceed Citizens'loss estimate by $2.5 billion. In the event that damage from Irmaexceeds the 1-in-250-year loss threshold, Citizens has threeadditional revenue sources that provide significant claims-payingability before resorting to additional bond issuance. However,significant growth in damage claims relative to available resourcescould result in future bond issuance and potential downward ratingaction."

Citizens declined to comment for this story.

Broad assessment base for both insurers

Fitch Ratings research also came to the conclusion that Citizensand the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF) are unlikely tobe severely affected by Irma damage claims.

"Although Florida Citizens and the FHCF provide differentinsurance products (property insurance by Citizens and a form ofreimbursement by the FHCF), both entities issue debt payable fromemergency assessments on a large and diverse assessment base thatincludes virtually all insurance policies in the state," Fitchreported on Sept. 8, 2017. "The assessment base totaledapproximately $44 billion as of December 2016. Fitch's 'AA' ratingson bonds issued for Citizens' Personal Lines Account/CommercialLines account and Coastal Account and for the FHCF (bonds issued bythe state Board of Administration) reflect the ability of eachissuer to access this base and are unrelated to insuranceoperations."

State legislators created the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fundin 1993 after Hurricane Andrew, which is remembered as the fourthcostliest tropical cyclone in U.S. history with a rebuilding pricetag of $26.5 billion, according to the National WeatherService.

Hurricane Katrina was the most expensive of the Atlantichurricanes to hit the U.S. with damages totaling roughly $108billion.

At least some of Irma's financial impact will be felt inbusiness losses. Planalytics, Inc., a BusinessWeather Intelligence® reporting firm based inBerwyn, Penn., projected in the days running up toHurricane Irma that, based on the storm's strength and size, itcould account for $1.45 billion in lost consumer/retail sectorsales.

See also:

Hurricanes and homeowners' insurancedeductibles

Identifying water-damaged HVAC systemsafter a hurricane