Millions of American homeowners are confronting a growing financial dilemma as climate change-driven wildfires and floods push their home insurance rates to unprecedented levels. The situation is compounded when insurers decide to withdraw coverage.

A recent survey conducted by the Insurance Information Institute has shed light on a growing trend among Florida homeowners. As insurance premiums continue to soar in the state, more and more residents are choosing to self-insure their homes.

Tina Baker has lived in her Shore Acres neighborhood in St. Petersburg for more than four years. She’s watched as her neighbors homes have flooded several times during that period, but her home has never flooded, while she’s been there, until Hurricane Idalia.

The state of Florida will experience hurricanes. That is a reality that residents, government, businesses, and the insurance industry understands.

Florida and other states are trying to fend off an attempt by the Biden administration to end a lawsuit challenging changes to the National Flood Insurance Program that have led to higher premiums for many property owners.

Another estimate for the eventual insurance and perhaps reinsurance market loss from hurricane Idalia has been released, with Moody’s RMS opting for a $3 billion to $5 billion range.

Insurers were expected to face claims for billions of dollars from Hurricane Idalia which made landfall in Florida on Wednesday, adding to a challenging year for the industry that could result in higher premiums for customers.

Hurricane Idalia struck the United States’ southeastern coast this morning, making landfall as a Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 125 mph.

As tropical storm Idalia continues to develop, the latest from the NHC forecasts a Category 3 major hurricane Idalia will approach the Florida coastline, leading BMS Senior Meteorologist Andrew Siffert to highlight the potential for any storm of this kind to be a multi-billion dollar insurance and reinsurance market loss event.

Two storms were intensifying Monday as the Atlantic hurricane season was getting into full swing. Tropical Storm Idalia was off the coast of Cuba on a potential track to come ashore as a major hurricane in the southern U.S., the National Hurricane Center said.

Meteorologists at the National Hurricane Center have raised the alert for a potential tropical depression formation in the Northwestern Caribbean Sea to 60 percent, with early projections indicating a path toward Florida’s panhandle.

Citizens Property Insurance Company CEO Tim Cerio indicated on Tuesday night during a property insurance online forum with Senate Democrats that the company may be unable to pay out claims following another catastrophic hurricane without the use of surcharges for policy holders and assessments on Floridian taxpayers.

Florida’s ongoing battle with rising insurance rates has taken a new turn as the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation has taken a stand against Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s latest proposed rate increase.

Another Florida homeowners’ insurer insolvency could be on the horizon, and it could be the biggest the state has seen this year, according to the Insurance Information Institute (Triple-i).

Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) this week granted authorization to Mainsail Insurance Company, a property and casualty insurer headquartered in Texas, to function as a domestic insurer within the state.