Increases in federal flood insurance premiums that are projected to surpass 700% over the coming years are already leading people to back out of home purchases and will likely lead to an exodus of residents and businesses from southern Louisiana, officials told a federal judge Thursday in New Orleans.

A rumored legislative deal aimed at keeping home insurance companies from bailing on California is dead now that the deadline for a bill has passed.

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.

Heavy rainfall -- nearly 10 inches in six hours -- flooded parts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with two communities declaring a state of emergency as water poured into homes and forced boat rescues of residents. Concern about a dam listed in poor condition led to more evacuations.

A coalition of consumer, environmental, and economic justice organizations is sounding the alarm on what they describe as a secretive wildfire insurance deal that could lead to significant rate hikes in California.

Another major insurance company plans to impose new restrictions on its homeowners business in California, potentially worsening the state’s growing insurance woes and making it more difficult for homeowners and buyers to cover their residences.

An insurance adjuster from Texas was sentenced to 20 years in prison for pocketing more than $200,000 in insurance payouts meant for St. Charles Parish residents who filed claims to repair damage to their property following Hurricane Ida, according to the St. Charles Parish District Attorney’s Office.

One of the largest wildfires in Louisiana history is continuing to spread and threaten rural communities. The Tiger Island Fire, which started about five miles east of the Texas state line, doubled in size over the weekend, growing to more than 33,000 acres -- accounting for more acres of burned land than the state usually has in an entire year.

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

Karen Clark & Co. on Monday said privately insured losses from Hurricane Hilary will be close to $600 million in the U.S.

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.

The National Weather Service now says at least 11 tornadoes struck northern Ohio as severe storms moved across the state late Thursday night into early Friday.

Seven tornadoes touched down in Michigan during the late-night thunderstorms that rapidly swept across the lower half of the state earlier this week, the National Weather Service said.

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.