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Initial estimates

Hurricane Irma will generate up to 70,000claims and approximately $1.23 billion of insured losses toCitizens Property Insurance Corporation, according to initialestimates presented to the Citizens board of governors.

Related: Florida's state-run insurers look good forHurricane Irma rebuilding

Citizens said in a statement that, based on those estimates, itwould have ample resources to pay claims. The $1.23 billion inlosses will be paid from Citizens' surplus, with $193 millionexpected to be reimbursed from the Florida Hurricane CatastropheFund. Citizens would retain a $6.4 billion surplus after incurredlosses available for future storms, it said.

'Continue to learn, prepare and improve'

“Much hard work and preparation over the last few years has paidoff during Citizens' initial response to Hurricane Irma,” saidChris Gardner, the chair of the Citizens board of governors.“However, given the magnitude of reported claims, we are sure toencounter unforeseen challenges. We will continue to learn,prepare, and improve our response capabilities with each stormsituation.”

Citizens already has received 45,681 claims. That figure isexpected to reach 70,000 over the next 18 to 24 months. So far, thebulk of claims have come from Miami-Dade (36 percent), Monroe(15.4%) and Broward Counties (14.9%).

Citizens was created by the Florida legislature in August 2002as a not-for-profit, tax-exempt, government entity to provideinsurance protection to Florida policyholders entitled to butunable to find property insurance coverage in the privatemarket.

Related: Florida OIR approves Citizens request ot limitcoverage on non-weather claims

Steven A. Meyerowitz, Esq., is the directorof FC&S Legal, the editor-in-chief of the InsuranceCoverage Law Report, and the founder and president of MeyerowitzCommunications Inc. Email him at [email protected].