The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation ("FOIR") most recently estimated the total insured losses from Hurricane Michael at $6,906,918,311. The FOIR also has begun reporting on Florida claims from Hurricane Dorian – which skirted the Florida coast.
Despite no direct hit, however, nearly 4,000 Hurricane Dorian insurance claims already have been filed, seeking about $19 million. That's quite far from the Hurricane Michael claims total, yet it also is a good indication that even a "close" hurricane can be costly.
The FOIR reported the following data as of Monday, September 16, 2019.
| Lines of Business | Number of Claims Reported | Number of Open Claims with Payment | Number of Open Claims without Payment | Number of Claims Closed with Payment | Number of Claims Closed without Payment | Percent of Claims Closed |
| Residential Property | 2,288 | 66 | 1,388 | 420 | 414 | 36.5% |
| Homeowners | 1,929 | 54 | 1,150 | 381 | 344 | 37.6% |
| Dwelling | 199 | 5 | 147 | 10 | 37 | 23.6% |
| Mobile Homeowners | 157 | 7 | 88 | 29 | 33 | 39.5% |
| Commercial Residential | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Commercial Property | 156 | 1 | 101 | 20 | 34 | 34.6% |
| Private Flood | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 75.0% |
| Business Interruption | 13 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 69.2% |
| Other Lines of Business | 1,500 | 68 | 882 | 459 | 91 | 36.7% |
| TOTALS | 3,961 | 135 | 2,376 | 902 | 548 | 36.6% |
Victoria Spears
Victoria Prussen Spears is senior vice president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn Law School, Ms. Spears was an attorney at a leading New York City law firm before joining Meyerowitz Communications. She may be contacted at [email protected].