Category Archives: Catastrophes

Catastrophes, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Flood Insurance, Floods, Regulation, Risk-Based Pricing

NFIP Proposals Highlight Urgency of Collective Action on Resilience

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

Proposed reforms to FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) would expand the role of private insurers in the flood market as part of a broader push for state and private sector participation in long-term disaster management and resilience.

Congress established NFIP in 1968, at a time when few private insurers were willing to write flood coverage. While private participation in the flood market has grown in recent years, NFIP has continued to cover more than half of all U.S. homeowners with flood insurance.

In their report released May 7, the FEMA Review Council described NFIP as “unsustainable” and “burdened by over $20 billion in debt” due to its “one-size-fits-all” approach to flood mapping, which “does not fully capture current or emerging flood hazards” on national and local scales. These shortcomings have contributed to inadequate insurance pricing and flood risk misconceptions among homeowners, exacerbating low flood insurance take-up rates in at-risk communities, the report said.

To ensure the availability of comprehensive flood protection, the report recommended establishing a depopulation program or a centralized flood insurance marketplace to shift more policies into the private market. Risk-based pricing for NFIP policyholders can also incentivize private involvement, the report said, as premiums adjust to reflect actual risk.

This transition builds upon NFIP’s Risk Rating 2.0 reforms, which aimed to make premium rates more actuarially sound and equitable by better aligning them with individual, property-level risk. As NFIP rates became further aligned with principles of risk-based pricing, some policyholders’ prices fell as many others rose, which boosted private market opportunities. Updates to the reforms based on new data could attract even greater private participation, the report said.

Private coverage gaps

Though flood was once considered an “untouchable” risk for the private market, advanced analytics capabilities and data sources have helped give them the comfort and flexibility they need to write the coverage. Federal regulations introduced in 2019 also allowed mortgage lenders to accept private flood insurance if the policies abided by regulatory definitions, propelling double-digit growth in private appetite.

Despite growth, private companies currently write only 27 percent of the flood market. Roughly 4.7 million homeowners have flood coverage through NFIP nationwide.

Mark Friedlander, Triple-I’s senior director of media relations, told USA Today Florida Network that private insurers are unprepared to take on all the risk NFIP covers, especially as flood risk severity rises.

“While private flood insurance is growing, NFIP remains vital for providing widespread, actuarially sound coverage against damages excluded from standard homeowners policies,” Friedlander said.

Ahead of a temporary NFIP lapse in 2025, a letter penned by organizations across the risk and insurance industry suggested the program’s absence “could further impact affordable housing, create additional challenges for small businesses, unnecessarily further increase the cost of homeownership, and must be avoided.”

Resilience key to insurance availability

For communities that invest in floodplain management, disbanding NFIP could disqualify homeowners from flood insurance premium discounts. FEMA currently incentivizes such practices through its voluntary Community Rating System, which rewards NFIP policyholders with corresponding discounts as high as 45 percent.

At a meeting with the FEMA Review Council before the 2025 lapse, NAIC members expressed support for these mitigation initiatives, with North Dakota Insurance Commissioner and NAIC Past President Jon Godfread adding “state insurance regulators are committed to expanding access to flood insurance through both the NFIP and private coverage.”

The recent restoration of FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program underscores the benefits of such multi-sector collaboration. Before its cancellation last year, the program had allocated more than $5 billion for investment in mitigation projects to alleviate human suffering and avoid economic losses from floods, wildfires, and other disasters.

Reinstated with several new rules to improve its impact, BRIC also “isn’t a perfect program, but it’s a necessary one,” said Daniel Kaniewski, CEO of Northstar Risk & Resilience, a former FEMA deputy administrator, and a Triple-I non-resident scholar. Though changes to the program may drive smarter resilience investment, he cautioned that “BRIC alone – or any federal program on its own – isn’t going to close the nation’s disaster resilience gap.”

“It’s going to take community leaders, emergency managers, businesses, nonprofits – and, of course, the insurance industry – pulling in the same direction,” Kaniewski said. “The burden can’t exclusively fall on property owners and federal taxpayers.”

Insurers have worked hard to develop partnerships that address these challenges. Strengthen Alabama Homes, for instance – financed by the insurance industry with more than $86 million in grants since 2016 – offers homeowners’ insurance discounts for those who build or retrofit their homes to voluntary IBHS construction standards for wind and hail resilience, prompting numerous states to implement their own programs.

Incentives and public-private collaboration will be critical to keeping insurance affordable and available amid the mounting toll of extreme weather. Swiss Re data indicates flooding, wildfires, and severe convective storms drove a record 92 percent of total global natural catastrophe insured losses in 2025, fueling a “decades-long trend of rising baseline risk.”

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Catastrophes, Coastal Property, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Hurricane, Regulation, Risk-Based Pricing

N.Y. Natural Catastrophe Exposure Highlights
Risk-Based Pricing Benefit

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

New York may be less exposed to frequent natural catastrophes than states like Florida or California, but it is far from immune to massive catastrophe losses.

A recent white paper by risk modeler Karen Clark & Co (KCC) cautions against underestimating the Empire State’s vulnerability – or that of other states not typically identified with large-scale natural disasters. A future 1-in-100-year hurricane event in New York could cost insurers more than $100 billion, KCC reported, with a 1-in-250-year event potentially costing twice as much.

“Beyond hurricanes, New York also experiences substantial impacts from both severe convective storms and winter storms, which together generate almost $1 billion in average annual property losses in the state,” KCC notes.

As state lawmakers consider strengthening requirements for prior approval of premium rate increases to rein in rising costs, KCC suggests that cost reduction strategies that account for these potential impacts would help ensure “property insurance remains both available and affordable.”

Underlying cost drivers

New York is exposed to nearly $9 trillion in potential insured losses, $6 trillion of which is concentrated along the coast. Contributing factors include property location and associated rebuilding costs, demonstrating, in part, demographic shifts placing more people in harm’s way, KCC said.

“Even if rates remain constant, premiums will rise over time to reflect the increasing cost of construction,” the report said. It added that such costs for an average single-family home have doubled over the past decade.

With trillions in loss exposure, the state faces outsized impacts, even from less intense storms. For instance, Hurricane Sandy in 2012 – despite making landfall in New Jersey as a Category 1 storm – generated almost $10 billion in insured losses in New York. Based on current exposure, insured losses in New York would exceed $13 billion, with total losses climbing to $31 billion.

A Category 3 hurricane that made landfall in the state in 1938 would produce more than $20 billion in insured losses today, KCC said. The state’s “worst-case scenario,” however, is if a similar storm hit close to Rockaway Beach in New York City, as losses in the hundreds of billions would ripple through “the most populated areas of the state.”

Sustaining market health

In testimony to the New York State Senate in November 2025, the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) estimated that such an event “would wipe out 69 years of homeowners’ insurance return on net worth. ” APCIA noted that New York State is second only to Miami in vulnerability to a hurricane exceeding $100 billion in losses.

At the same state senate hearing, Triple-I Chief Insurance Officer Patrick Schmid testified on market adjustments insurers made in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, such as updating rates and establishing reserves for Sandy-related claims that extended beyond the year of impact.

These changes have allowed state homeowners’ insurance premiums to remain “relatively average and reasonable as a percentage of household income,” contradicting “the narrative of an affordability crisis in New York’s homeowners’ insurance market,” Schmid explained.

“In other words, the ‘profitable decade’ reflects a market that learned from a major catastrophic event and adjusted accordingly,” Schmid said. “This is how insurance markets should function.”

Importance of risk-based pricing

Insurance pricing must reflect increased risks to maintain policyholder surplus, or the funds regulators require insurers to keep on hand to pay claims. Regulatory constraints on risk-based pricing in some states have forced insurers to write fewer policies or withdraw from state markets entirely, leading to less affordable and available coverage.

Unlike its homeowners’ market, New York’s auto expenditures rank among the highest in the country, driven by repair costs as well as accident frequency and fraud, according to a Triple-I Outlook. Proposals to give New York regulators the authority to block auto premium rate changes could erode surplus and further push insurers to rethink their risk appetite in the state, which already imposes a restrictive “excess profit” law.

The role of profit in insurance pricing is not merely to reward insurers for the risks they assume. As KCC puts it, profit is “the mechanism through which insurers compensate capital providers for risk.” Rather than intervene in insurance markets, policymakers should aim to provide “a regulatory environment that allows insurers flexibility to set adequate rates.”

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Affordability, Auto Insurance, Catastrophes, Homeowners Insurance, Legal Environment

Florida Reforms Drive Benefits for Consumers

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

Legal system reforms targeting fraud and excess litigation in Florida are helping drive renewed underwriting business and lower premium rates for consumers throughout the state, signaling ongoing improvements in the Sunshine State’s insurance market health, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis.

Post-reform, nearly 20 new property insurers have entered the Sunshine State and existing carriers have expanded their market share, fueling double-digit growth in direct written premiums for many of the state’s largest insurers in 2025. As policyholders shifted to the private market, policies in force for Citizens Property Insurance Corp. – the state-run insurer of last resort and previously the state’s largest residential insurance writer – dropped by 57.8 percent from 2024.

Premiums for Citizens policyholders fell 43.7 percent, alongside extensive premium reductions for thousands of Florida homeowners and drivers across the property/casualty insurance market. Florida’s top five auto insurance groups, for instance, averaged a more than 6 percent rate reduction through mid-year, accounting for 78 percent of the state’s auto market. These reductions have increased to an average of 8 percent based, on the most recent 2026 regulatory filings.

Claims-related litigation has also plummeted, slashing the market’s defense and cost containment expense ratio to 1.9 percent, S&P reported – a major decline from 8.4 percent in 2022, before the 2022 and 2023 reforms were fully implemented. In dollar terms, 2025 saw $537 million in direct incurred legal defense expenses, down from roughly $792 million the prior year and from $1.6 billion in 2022.

Amid decreasing litigation costs, Florida’s residential property insurers recorded over $2 billion in underwriting gains in 2025, with the state’s homeowners’ market posting its highest net income in more than a decade.

Favorable 2025 results are good news, but it’s important for policyholders and policymakers to remember the sustained, industry-wide reform efforts that underpin Florida’s current stability. Despite their measurable benefits to consumers, the reforms have faced repeated legislative attacks, threatening to undo much of this progress.

Florida’s strong market performance also reflects relatively mild catastrophe activity in 2025, including the absence of any U.S. hurricane landfalls. Though the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season is forecast to be “somewhat below normal,” ongoing caution is essential, as just one significant landfall could threaten recent market growth and leave lasting damage.

Compounding these challenges is Florida’s most severe drought in over 25 years, which has produced nearly 2,000 wildfires in 2026 year-to-date and impacted many areas traditionally considered low risk. With wildfire risks still looming, the shift underscores the dynamic headwinds that imperil the state, necessitating continued legislative support of reforms to keep coverage affordable and available in one of the most complex states to insure.

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Catastrophes, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Homeowners Insurance, Hurricane, Roof Condition, Severe Convective Storm, Tornado, Wind

Mississippi Set to Launch Roof Grant Program

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

Mississippi recently adopted a program that will offer homeowners grants of up to $10,000 for roofs built to the FORTIFIED™ standard, following in the footsteps of states across the country to mitigate the rising frequency and severity of extreme weather.

Developed by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), the FORTIFIED™ standard can help reduce high wind and hail damage through construction methods like sealing roof decks and anchoring roofs to wall framing using stronger nails. While such standards remain voluntary, many insurers in Mississippi began providing premium discounts for homes that meet the designation, prompting state lawmakers to further incentivize their construction.

The Magnolia State is only the latest to follow Alabama’s lead, which largely pioneered these incentives through its own Strengthen Alabama Homes program, financed by the insurance industry with more than $86 million in grants since 2016. Designed to enhance community resiliency while also lowering insurance rates, completed retrofits earn residents premium discounts ranging from 25 to 55 percent.

Slated to begin accepting applications later this year, Strengthen Mississippi Homes authorizes the state’s insurance department to allocate $15 million a year towards grants and gives the department flexibility in determining grant eligibility as the program rolls out. More than one thousand homes are expected to qualify each year, including in inland areas and along the coast.

Notably, the new grant program builds on the state’s preexisting hurricane-specific mitigation initiative, in part reflecting growing nationwide vulnerability to other perils. While global insured losses fell below average in the first quarter of 2026, Gallagher Re analysis shows that U.S. convective storms were among the largest loss events, including a March tornado outbreak that killed multiple Mississippi residents and caused upwards of a billion dollars in insured damages throughout the Midwestern and Eastern U.S.

Mississippi ranked fourth in the nation for tornado frequency in 2025, at 111 tornadoes, according to data from the National Weather Service. Currently, it ranks second for such activity, at 48.

Modeling what works

Research from the Alabama Department of Insurance, in collaboration with the University of Alabama Center for Insurance Information and Research, has demonstrated the success of Strengthen Alabama Homes. The study found FORTIFIED homes suffered less property damage and fewer insurance claims than homes built using other construction methods when Hurricane Sally made landfall in the state.

Programs modeled on Alabama’s have sprouted throughout the United States, including in coastal Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Farther inland, Oklahoma just opened its program statewide after three pilot launches last year, and Kentucky unveiled its $5 million program for the first time last month. Similar efforts are underway in Minnesota after the state established a grant program in 2023, with full implementation expected during 2026. Arkansas’ program also remains under development.

Insurers have long called for boosting roof resilience within and beyond hurricane-prone regions. IBHS research estimates 70 to 90 percent of storm-related insurance claims involve roof damage, meaning roof upgrades can substantially minimize losses and improve market stability, keeping insurance affordable and available for more homeowners. In addition to making homes safer, the study revealed FORTIFIED™ homes sell for nearly 7 percent more than similar homes with non-FORTIFIED™ roofs.

Mounting demand suggests such improvements are gaining traction even beyond state grant programs. An unprecedented 20,000-plus designations were issued in 2025 alone, at a 20 percent increase over the prior year, keeping IBHS on track to reach a nationwide total of 120,000 by the end of 2026.

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Catastrophes, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Roof Condition, Wildfire

Resilient Post-Wildfire Rebuilding Pays Off

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

Recovery from wildfire devastation takes time, and building back with an eye toward greater resilience is essential. The average timeline for post-disaster reconstruction typically ranges from one to three years. Full economic recovery for communities impacted by the 2025 wildfires in Los Angeles County will likely take decades.

“Rebuilding after disaster requires more than just restoring what was lost,” stressed Janet Ruiz, Triple-I’s California-based communications director. “Take the time to build back stronger and with resilience in mind so your family, home, and community are better protected against ongoing wildfire risk.”

Many homeowners in the affected region are striving to rebuild smarter rather than rushing to replace what was lost, such as through the IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home™ program – a voluntary approach that empowers homeowners to reduce wildfire risk to their home and property.

“Spending time with families who lost everything in the Los Angeles wildfires, you feel how heavy every rebuilding decision is,” said Laura Blaul, senior wildfire fellow at the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS). “People aren’t just choosing materials, they’re asking, ‘Will this protect my home next time?’ Once homeowners understand how wildfire actually destroys homes – how embers, heat, and flames find their way in – they start asking better questions and making different choices.”

Depending on the project, these choices include investing in fire-rated roofing, ember-resistant vents, noncombustible sliding, and additional features outlined by the program’s Base and Plus Designations. Earning the latter can lead to premium discounts from some insurers, reflecting the program’s “science-backed and practical path” to “making homes more survivable and insurable,” Blaul said.

A painfully slow process

Debris removal and environmental testing before rebuilding began quickly for the communities hit hardest by the Los Angeles fires, but it may require months to years to complete. From there, homeowners must acquire permits to rebuild, which building codes and other regulations can delay. Throughout this process, homeowners and renters will work with their insurers and mortgage lenders to secure payments for damages, adding additional time.

Availability of contractors and building materials can create another bottleneck, especially with thousands of damaged L.A. homes needing immediate attention. Research from Associated Builders and Contractors indicates the construction industry must attract an estimated 349,000 new workers nationwide to keep pace with demand in 2026, suggesting construction backlogs beyond recovering areas will substantially stall rebuilding.

Families and communities benefit

A first-of-its-kind study from the California Department of Insurance and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners revealed that rebuilding L.A. communities to IBHS standards could reduce average wildfire losses by one-third, underscoring the widespread benefits of improved building construction at a property level.

More broadly, a separate report from Milliman, the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, and the Western Fire Chiefs Association urges wildfire-prone states to prioritize risk mitigation over reactive fire suppression, particularly within the built environment. Providing a framework to improve resilience statewide, their report highlights strategies to identify and quantify wildfire risk and emphasizes the role of education and outreach to secure buy-in from property owners, community leaders, and other co-beneficiaries of risk reduction.

Resources for homeowners

Residents rebuilding after the fires can find guidance and assistance through:

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Catastrophes, Severe Convective Storm, Tornado, Wind

Illinois Storms Highlight Severe Weather Losses

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

Thunderstorms threatening tornadoes, large hail, and flooding in Illinois this week are just the latest in an outbreak of severe weather within the state this year. As of April 17, the National Weather Service (NWS) has logged more than 300 storm reports for the Prairie State, which currently ranks first for both tornadoes and hail nationwide.

Trailing just behind Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio for severe wind, Illinois leads in severe weather overall with 130 hail events and 61 tornadoes. For comparison, the 25-year average for tornadoes in the state during an entire year is 61 tornadoes, based on final NWS data from 2000 to 2024. An estimated 147 tornadoes impacted the state in 2025 alone, with Illinois ranked second for tornadic activity after Texas.

Much of the damage thus far this year occurred during a series of March outbreaks that tracked through the Midwest, each expected to generate $1 billion or more in insured losses, according to initial estimates from Gallagher Re.

Marked by violent tornadoes, massive hail, and strong straight-line winds, the March 10-12 and March 15-16 storms collectively claimed multiple lives and damaged hundreds of homes and buildings across Illinois and dozens of other states, including major metro areas like Chicago. As such, Gallagher Re projects the direct economic costs of both events will be roughly 25 percent higher than eventual insured losses.

Among the communities hit hardest by the March 10-12 storms was Kankakee County, a suburb about 50 miles south of Chicago. Beyond a powerful EF3 tornado, the area also reported a potentially record-breaking hailstone for the state, observed as larger than the size of a grapefruit.

Surges in convective storm activity during spring and into June are typical, with March historically leading the season every year. Research suggests the severity of these events may rise, however, as hailstorms producing large stones become more common and tornadoes increasingly concentrate in outbreaks of days with multiple twisters.

Climate patterns shifting tornadoes farther east may also be raising the frequency of the peril in states traditionally considered lower risk. Because the Midwestern and Southeastern U.S. are more densely populated than the Plains, the path of individual tornadoes is more likely to cross with urban areas, leaving more people vulnerable and adding to the overall toll of tornadic activity.

Nationally, the NWS has so far this year reported 365 tornadoes, which is approximately 28 above the 1991 to 2020 U.S. tornado average through the end of April. This number is expected to continue rising this month as more rounds of severe storms develop in Illinois and countrywide.

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Catastrophes, Disaster Resilience, Roof Condition, Severe Convective Storm, Tornado, Wind

Convective Storm Losses: Historic 3-Year Streak

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

Despite a relatively mild Atlantic hurricane season, the United States reported another costly year of natural catastrophe events in 2025, driven largely by the $51 billion in annual insured losses from severe convective storms, according to Gallagher Re estimates.

Trailing behind only 2023 and 2024 in such losses, the year ranks as the third costliest on record for the peril, producing more than $68 billion in total economic damages. A new Triple-I Issues Brief examines the demographic shifts and evolving weather and climate patterns behind the devastation, particularly as convective storm activity increasingly impacts dense urban areas.

Tornado activity surges

Preliminary data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) indicates at least 1,559 tornadoes were reported in 2025, roughly 127 percent of the annual 1,225 historical average. Though advancements in doppler radar and other technologies have improved observations, some climate experts suggest activity has become increasingly concentrated in outbreaks of days with multiple tornadoes.

A record 300 twisters spawned in March alone, with more than 100 confirmed across 15 states during mid-month. Generating $8.4 billion in insured losses, the early season outbreak is the fourth costliest of its kind on record and led to two EF4 tornadoes in Arkansas, the first time in decades that such a convergence had been reported.

Hail takes center stage

Hail accounts for as much as 80 percent of severe convective storm claims in any given year, causing an estimated $10 billion in annual U.S. property damage for more than a decade. Roofs bear the brunt of this damage, facilitating an estimated 70 to 90 percent of total insured residential catastrophic losses.

To better understand hail formation and impact, Victor Gensini – Northern Illinois University meteorology professor and Triple-I non-resident scholar – recently co-led the largest hail study ever conducted, known as ICECHIP. Funded with an $11 million grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the field study sent more than 100 scientists across the Great Plains to analyze hailstorms during summer 2025. The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety also participated, as part of its ongoing efforts to develop severe weather-resilient construction standards.

Partners in resilience

Every $1 spent on hazard mitigation can save up to $33 in future disaster costs, according to a report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Allstate. Modern building codes are essential to achieving these outcomes, as is leveraging tools like aerial imagery and artificial intelligence to help predict and prevent losses before they occur.

Numerous private sector nonprofits have also stepped up to fill in research and mitigation gaps left by various federal funding and staffing cuts last year. Climate Central, for instance, has released its first billion-dollar weather and climate disaster report since assuming responsibility for that dataset last year from NOAA, reporting 21 such events from severe convective storms alone, more than any prior year on record.

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Catastrophes, Corporate Social Responsibility, Disaster Resilience, ESG, Hurricane, Severe Convective Storm, Wildfire

Claims Leaders Take Charge on Climate-Resilient Rebuilding

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

As communities nationwide rebuild after last year’s 23 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters, many must weigh the benefits of climate-resilient construction over the immediate financial burdens, logistical obstacles, and other constraints associated with recovery. Perceived cost of these building standards poses another challenge, underscoring a widespread awareness gap that impedes adoption.

A new report from Crawford & Company explores how facilitating resilient construction became a major focus among claims leaders across the globe, as part of a greater industry shift to center sustainability in claims decision-making. Based on interviews and survey responses from a cross-section of carrier and broker partner organizations, the report highlights the growing momentum to incentivize home upgrades due to their long-term cost savings, with such initiatives largely backed by insurers themselves.

“When we can collaborate at an industry level and converge on some best practices, we’re going to create a lot more benefit for the effort that we put in,” said Pat Van Bakel, the firm’s chief commercial and strategy officer, in a recent Executive Exchange with Triple-I CEO Sean Kevelighan. “My advice is to be practical: think about what we can do that is going to drive some impact and then build from there.”

Though differing economic, political, and legal pressures shape regional approaches to resilience, Van Bakel explained that “most organizations have referenced sustainability or resiliency in their corporate strategy,” with 70 percent of respondents identifying sustainability considerations as impactful in their adjudication and resolution process. Many mentioned integrating programs to make homes more resilient to severe weather, aligning with broader industry trends to prioritize sustainable restoration over replacement.

While house upgrades to voluntary FORTIFIED standards, for instance, remain relatively affordable, adoption skyrocketed under insurer-funded programs that offer homeowners grants to retrofit their roofs along such guidelines, with completed retrofits earning policyholders steep premium discounts. Developed by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), the construction method has demonstrated success in reducing severe storm and hurricane damage, prompting a burgeoning number of state governments to help launch their own programs.

Beyond risk reduction, “what they’ve found in those areas is that the home values have started going up and the prices of insurance have started going down,” Kevelighan said, creating an “economic flywheel to incentivize people to take action.”

Similar efforts are underway in Dallas, Tex., Kevelighan added, as Triple-I works to establish “a property-based resiliency score” that homeowners can use to “tap into a revolving loan and grant fund that allows them to get the financial means” for needed home improvements.

Premium discounts are also attainable for California residents who meet specific standards for wildfire mitigation, many of whom are pursuing certification through the IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home program. Initiated by the state’s updated “Safer from Wildfires” regulations, the discounts offer some relief for the thousands of Los Angeles homes still awaiting reconstruction after last year’s devasting wildfires in the county.

Aerial images of disaster-struck areas “bring to life the value” of these initiatives, Van Bakel said, noting that “you can see the benefit of putting resiliency into the infrastructure when there’s no other way to explain how one structure can look relatively unscathed and one right next door to it is flattened or burned to the ground, depending on the peril.”

Crawford & Company’s report further emphasizes the claims industry’s role in helping “connect the dots” for policyholders on the resources available to them, including the accessibility of resilience funding and their code upgrade coverage. While 69 percent of respondents indicated sustainability is important to their customers, the demand for such measures has yet to fully translate to public education and coordinated industry support.

As insurers increasingly navigate these efforts, Van Bankel encourages the industry to “follow what I would describe as the demand pull, rather than trying to create demand, and I think we’ll be a lot more successful.”

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Catastrophes, Coastal Property, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Floods, Severe Convective Storm, Technology, Tornado, Wildfire, Wind

Climate Nonprofits Take Responsibility for Terminated U.S. Databases

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I 

Amid federal funding and staffing cuts to major science agencies last year, various nonprofit organizations stepped up to maintain their essential climate and weather research. Such risks may become increasingly difficult to predict and prevent, however, as key agencies, such as the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), remain targets for disinvestment or termination.

Private sector takes charge

In the spring of 2025, the federal administration attempted to rescind tens of billions of dollars in research and hazard mitigation grants, leaving many programs – like FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program – in legal limbo as legislators continue to debate their futures. Alongside funding delays and cancellations, mass firings led to the shuttering of several climate and weather information resources – until private associations and researchers mobilized to revive them.

Former NOAA staffers, for instance, regrouped to rescue the organization’s climate.gov website, which attracted nearly one million visitors per month – including teachers, policymakers, and media outlets – before being dismantled last June. Under a new domain, the site will both restore deleted information and resume tracking and explaining the effects of climate risk to public audiences, relying exclusively on nonprofit funding, according to project director Rebecca Lindsey in an interview with NPR.

Similarly, nonprofit Climate Central recently released its first billion-dollar weather and climate disaster report since assuming responsibility for that dataset, which former NOAA climatologist Adam Smith continues to oversee. Beyond rebuilding NOAA’s database, the organization aims to expand upon it in the coming years to track smaller catastrophes, providing insurers and other stakeholders more reliable information to understand individual disasters.

An initiative spearheaded by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the American Meteorological Society (AMS) is now aiming to help fill research gaps left by the elimination of the National Climate Assessment (NCA), a series of congressionally mandated reports published since 2000 to inform climate risk mitigation strategies for municipalities and businesses. Though not intended to replace NCA, the new data collection “provides a critical pathway for a wide range of researchers to come together and provide the science needed” to “ensure our communities, our neighbors, our children are all protected and prepared,” said AGU president Brandon Jones.

Grassroots efforts to archive federal climate databases and tools before they disappear have also gained traction around the globe to ensure these resources remain publicly available. The nonprofit Open Environmental Data Project, for example, saved a now-deleted tool to identify communities disproportionately impacted by climate and weather risks through its Public Environmental Data Project.

Crucial agencies under scrutiny

While the latest government spending package has largely spared science funding from further reductions, the Trump administration had proposed cuts amounting to a 21 percent drop from fiscal 2025 levels. Other agencies face potential dissolution, particularly NCAR – widely considered the largest federal climate research program in the U.S.

Managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) in collaboration with the National Science Foundation (NSF), NCAR houses advanced computing and modeling systems to support weather forecasts, mitigation planning, flood mapping, and other datasets needed across the transportation, engineering, utility, and risk and insurance industries.

Describing NCAR’s research as critical to “protecting lives and property, supporting the economy, and strengthening national security,” UCAR president Antonio Busalacchi said in a statement that “any plans to dismantle NSF NCAR would set back our nation’s ability to predict, prepare for, and respond to severe weather and other natural disasters.”

“NCAR datasets have been vital in improving our understanding of the atmosphere and ocean,” said Phil Klotzbach, lead author of Colorado State University’s seasonal hurricane forecasts and Triple-I Non-Resident Scholar. “These tools have been critical input to CSU’s seasonal hurricane forecasts for over 25 years.”

NCAR’s pending fate coincides with a recent study from the University of Florida that suggests the budget cuts in part reflect pervasive distrust in scientific institutions, necessitating stronger efforts to communicate the value of scientific work to the public. But as more independent groups take on the responsibilities once affiliated with federal organizations, building public relationships may prove even more challenging, posing uncertain implications for the future of climate and weather data as a whole.

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Catastrophes, Coastal Property, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Flood Insurance, Floods, Hurricane, Parametric, Wind

Few, High-Powered Storms Defined 2025 Hurricane Season

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

Though producing no U.S. landfalls for the first time in a decade, the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season generated deadly tropical storms, above-average days of major hurricane activity, and millions in economic losses, underscoring the enduring community preparedness required against this evolving peril.

Among the five hurricanes that did form, four reached Category 3 strength or higher, including three Category 5 storms – marking only the second year on record that more than two such storms occurred in the Atlantic. A new Triple-I Issues Brief examines their impacts and how they align with emerging climate and weather trends, particularly within inland areas hit by flooding from remnants of the storms.

Flood exposure spreads inland

While not to the scale of U.S. hurricanes in 2024, the year’s tropical storms were similarly destructive, with remnant moisture from Tropical Storm Chantal contributing to $500 million in damage, Gallagher Re estimates. In many affected North Carolina counties, less than 1 percent of households were covered by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), highlighting a growing flood protection gap in areas once considered low-risk.

Demographic shifts also play a crucial role in the devastation as more people move into harm’s way and build their homes bigger and more expensive than before. While various flood-prone areas along the coasts lost more residents than they gained in 2024 – for the first time since 2019 – it is critical to remind home and business owners about rising flood risks throughout the country and the importance of staying protected.

Stronger, wetter weather

Warming oceans also fuel “rapid intensification,” or an increase in maximum sustained winds by at least 35 mph in a 24-hour period. Since 1980, over 80 percent of landfalling U.S. hurricanes – altogether costing at least $5 billion in damages – underwent rapid intensification at some point during their lifecycle, according to a 2025 American Geophysical Union (AGU) study.

Describing rapid intensification events as “a pronounced increasing trend,” AGU study coauthor Dr. Phil Klotzbach – a senior research scientist in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University and Triple-I non-resident scholar – said such storms “tend to weaken at a slower rate as they move inland,” compounding challenges for residents who “aren’t necessarily as prepared as they should be.”

Hurricane Melissa – 2025’s strongest and deadliest storm – showcased the toll from this mounting intensity. Claiming more than 100 lives across the Caribbean, Melissa rapidly intensified before hitting Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane, becoming one of the fastest-intensifying Atlantic storms ever recorded and the most powerful hurricane to make landfall in the country’s history.

Cutting-edge analytics

As advances in computing power and data collection have improved traditional tools in recent years, forecasters and insurers have built up their arsenal to combat the unpredictability of climate and weather risks. For instance, barometric pressure – found both more accurate and easier to gauge than the wind speeds traditionally used to predict storm damage – served as the primary trigger for a  $150 million parametric policy for Jamaica which paid out in full after Hurricane Melissa.

“Displaying the kind of predictive power that can help insurers price risk and mitigate costly claims, these technologies can inform conversations at all levels to encourage investment in resilience,” the brief states.

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