The head of the National Flood Insurance Program told CNBC’s "Squawk on the Street" Monday that the government is prepared to handle the anticipated rash of claims filed by homeowners in the upcoming days and weeks.

As Hurricane Florence surged toward land last week, meteorologists and emergency agencies took notice. The storm was a Category 4 hurricane, the second-strongest type, and it was drawing a bead on the Carolina coast.

The number of Americans with flood insurance is on the rise, yet Hurricane Florence is likely to make it painfully clear that too many homeowners in the Carolinas and other vulnerable regions remain unprotected.

This nightmare called Tropical Depression Florence is far from over. "Many people who think that the storm has missed them have yet to see its threat," North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said. "This system is unloading epic amounts of rainfall -- in some places measured in feet, not inches."

Deadly storm Florence moved across western North Carolina early on Monday and continued to dump rain that has nowhere to go except to swell rivers, flood highways and homes, and threaten more lives as it heads towards Virginia and New England.

Hurricane Florence is still hundreds of miles off the U.S. East Coast, but insurers are starting to see their potential costs from one type of claim mount as companies halt operations to let employees flee.

U.S. insurers are bracing for what could be $20 billion in losses as Hurricane Florence barrels toward the Carolinas and Virginia, bringing punishing rains and potentially deadly flooding.

As Hurricane Florence bears down on the southeastern United States, nearly 759,000 homes are in the storm’s path, and a worst-case rebuilding scenario could cost more than $170 billion, according to an estimate from real estate data provider CoreLogic.

As Hurricane Florence churned toward an eventual Eastern Seaboard landfall, evacuations were imposed for parts of three East Coast states Tuesday and millions of Americans prepared for what could become one of the most catastrophic hurricanes to hit the region in decades.

More than 1.5 million people were ordered to evacuate their homes along the U.S. Atlantic coast as Hurricane Florence, a Category 4 storm and the most powerful to menace the Carolinas in nearly three decades, barreled in on Tuesday.

Insured losses from the Carr and Mendocino Complex fires have reached $845 million, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones reported Thursday, warning that these numbers — the first reported from the fires that started in July — are expected to climb as more claims are filed.

Despite increased costs of outsourcing claims adjustment, an extreme wind event this past May serves as a reminder that insurers will continue to need independent claims adjusters and brokers should be prepared to field calls from claimants.

Most of Ontario is under a severe weather warning Tuesday, once again threatening flood damage in a province where insurers have already paid approximately $800 million for natural catastrophe damages.

For millions of Americans, this summer has been marked by climate-related risks. USA Today reported in July that 40 million people from Washington to Arizona were facing an excessive heat warning while in the Eastern US, around 32 million people were under a flood watch during the same period.

An Aug. 6 storm that battered southwest Colorado Springs and Fountain with up to softball-size hail caused $172.8 million in damage to vehicles, roofs, siding, windows, skylights and other parts of homes, an insurance trade group said Wednesday.