Weather Risk

Hurricane Irma hopscotched up Floridas west coast Sunday, making two landfalls and driving a wall of water and winds that submerged Miami, Naples and other major cities.

The storm shifted to Floridas Gulf Coast over the weekend, sparing Miami a direct hit and prompting risk modeler AIR Worldwide to say the maximum cost for insurers on Irma is $40 billion.

A standard homeowners policy covers damage from wind, but damage from hurricane strength winds is a different matter.

Hurricane Irmas westward shift will probably inflict heightened damage on people and businesses unable to adjust to its new path in time, while the storm fuels floods that many insurance policies dont cover.

According to the author, the U.S. has had decades of well-intentioned, but deeply flawed, federal flood and disaster relief programs.

Hurricane Irma smashed into Florida as a powerful Category 4 storm, driving a wall of water and violent winds ashore and marking the first time since 1964 the U.S. was hit by back-to-back major hurricanes.