Hurricane Helene highlights flood insurance gap

Hurricane Helene struck the U.S. Southeast after making landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Florida on Sept. 26. In CoreLogic's initial data analysis of wind and storm surge losses for insured residential and commercial properties in Florida and Georgia, losses are estimated to be between $3 billion and $5 billion. The company will announce new estimates that will include inland flood losses sometime next week.

There have been at least 107 deaths across the five states most affected as a result, according to AP News. With about 600 missing persons reported in Buncombe County, North Carolina, where 30 people were killed, the toll is likely to rise.

Natasha Marcus, Democratic nominee for North Carolina Commissioner of Insurance, issued a statement via email on the importance of owning adequate flood insurance for homeowners and business owners, as well as the need for more accurate flood mapping and analytics.

Marcus stated, "The facts are clear: the changes in our climate, brought on by warming oceans and rising sea levels, are here and getting worse. Helene will be remembered as one of the most devastating storms of this century—so far. More devastating weather events are coming. The rebuilding process will be expensive and take years, and many will face hurdles due to gaps in their insurance coverage."

"Flood insurance is not included in standard homeowners insurance policies. This means that many of the million-plus people living in the declared disaster area likely do not have coverage for the damage they've suffered. Most flood policies are provided through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and according to the most recent available data, there are less than 6,000 NFIP policies in the NC disaster area. Thus we have serious vulnerabilities — many North Carolina families and small businesses won't have insurance to cover the costs of recovery," added Marcus.

Trevor Burgess, Neptune Flood president and CEO wrote to Digital Insurance, "We expect the economic impact of Hurricane Helene in Florida to rival that of Hurricane Ian in 2022. Only 13% of homes in Florida have flood insurance suggesting huge levels of uninsured loss from this storm.  The two most common things I'm hearing from my neighbors are one, I wished that I bought flood insurance and two, I wished that I had listened to the evacuation orders."

The following data from Neptune Flood shows the lack of insured properties that may have been impacted by the destruction this past weekend. The aerial images of damages from Hurricane Helene were provided by EagleView.