Category Archives: Disaster Preparedness

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.

Learn More:

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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:

Learn More:

Study Supports Defensible Space, Home Hardening as Wildfire Resilience Tools

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Claims Leaders Take Charge on Climate-Resilient Rebuilding

Resilience Investment Payoffs Outpace Future Costs More Than 30 Times

Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Insurers and the Economy, Risk Management

Welcome Back, BRIC

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By Jeff Dunsavage, Head of Research Publications and Insights, Triple-I

The restoration of FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program after its sudden cancellation a year ago is good news for communities that will benefit from the program.

Congress established BRIC through the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 to ensure a stable funding source to support mitigation projects annually. Before its cancellation on April 4, 2025, 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.

At the time the program was cancelled, Chad Berginnis, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM), was critical of the decision.

 “Although ASFPM has had some qualms about how FEMA’s BRIC program was implemented, it was still a cornerstone of our nation’s hazard mitigation strategy, and the agency has worked to make improvements each year,” Berginnis said.

A coalition of 23 states challenged the cancellation and secured a court order requiring FEMA to restore billions in funding to communities that rely on the hazard-mitigation program. In a March 6 ruling, a U.S. district judge Richard G. Stearns gave FEMA 21days to unfreeze the approximately $750 million in grants that have been in limbo since the cancellation, which it did on March 31.

Tighter scrutiny

The restored BRIC program is largely the same statutory program, but now it operates under tighter judicial and congressional scrutiny. FEMA also explicitly states that the restored program:

  • Prioritizes infrastructure and construction projects that deliver immediate, measurable risk reduction;
  • Limits capability‑ and capacity‑building activities to those directly tied to infrastructure; and
  • Excludes stand‑alone planning activities not connected to physical mitigation outcomes

“BRIC 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. “It was formed to help drive investment in creating disaster-resilient communities – a very real need.”

Kaniewski drew comparisons with the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) “Risk Rating 2.0” reforms, which aligned NFIP premiums more closely with the risk characteristics of insured properties. Before the reforms, lower-risk property owners frequently subsidized the coverage of higher-risk homes. Risk Rating 2.0 made rates fairer and the program more fiscally sound. But further reforms to NFIP are necessary, just as BRIC may need to be updated based on lessons learned from the first few years of the program’s implementation. 

Kaniewski offered a final caution.

“BRIC alone – or any federal program on its own – isn’t going to close the nation’s disaster resilience gap,” he said. “It’s going to take community leaders, emergency managers, businesses, nonprofits – and, of course, the insurance industry – pulling in the same direction. The burden can’t exclusively fall on the property owners and federal taxpayers.”

Learn More:

BRIC Funding Loss Underscores Need for Collective Action on Climate Resilience

Convective Storm Losses: Historic 3-Year Streak

Flash Floods Set Records in 2025, Inland Risk Surges

Claims Leaders Take Charge on Climate-Resilient Rebuilding

Climate Nonprofits Take Responsibility for Terminated U.S. Databases

Resilience Investment Payoffs Outpace Future Costs More Than 30 Times

Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Flood Insurance, Floods, Homeowners Insurance, Hurricane

CSU Projects “Somewhat Below Normal” 2026 Hurricane Season

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

Colorado State University (CSU) researchers predict a “somewhat below normal” Atlantic hurricane season in their initial 2026 projections, citing the likely development of a robust El Niño event as the primary reason for their forecast of six hurricanes this year.

Led by senior research scientist and Triple-I non-resident scholar Phil Klotzbach, the CSU TC-RAMS team predicts 13 named storms and six hurricanes, two of which will become major hurricanes, or those that reach Category 3 strength or higher. A typical Atlantic season sees 14 named storms, seven hurricanes, and three major hurricanes.

The team’s forecast stems from conditions favorable for a strong El Niño, characterized by above-average ocean temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific. Typical El Niño events “tend to increase winds high up in the atmosphere,” Klotzbach explained, which increases levels of vertical wind shear, or changes in wind speed and direction.

Noting “too much shear tears hurricanes apart,” Klotzbach said that “especially when those events are moderate or strong, they cause very significant impacts in Atlantic hurricane activity.”

A potential record-setting super El Niño on the horizon would suggest impacts far beyond the Atlantic, including extreme heat around the globe. Bringing drought to some regions and flooding to others, the event would help suppress Atlantic hurricane activity while boosting hurricane as well as typhoon risks in the Pacific.

But while “the odds of landfall do go down when the forecast is for below normal activity,” Klotzbach emphasized “there have been significant landfalls in seasons that were somewhat below normal.”

For comparison, the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season produced 13 named storms and five hurricanes. Among those five, four became major, including three Category 5 storms – marking only the second year on record that more than two such storms occurred in the Atlantic Basin. Though none made landfall in the U.S., the Category 5 Hurricane Melissa tied with 1980’s Hurricane Allen for the strongest Atlantic Basin landfall by wind speed on record, causing widespread damage throughout the Caribbean.

While the season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30, now is the ideal time for families and businesses to review their policies with an insurance professional to ensure they have adequate coverage. Many may be unaware they need flood coverage, which is not part of a standard homeowners, condo, renters, or commercial property insurance policy. Flood policies are offered through FEMA’S National Flood Insurance Program and dozens of private insurers.

Homeowners can also upgrade their residences to voluntary standards for wind and heavy rain resilience, as modeled by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS). Retrofitting roofs to IBHS FORTIFIED standards, for instance, has demonstrated success in reducing hurricane damage, prompting numerous state governments to begin providing premium discounts to policyholders with completed retrofits.

Learn More:

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Resilience Investment Payoffs Outpace Future Costs More Than 30 Times

Study Touts Payoffs from Alabama Wind Resilience Program

Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Flood Insurance, Floods, Homeowners Insurance

Flash Floods Set Records in 2025, Inland Risk Surges

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

Deadly floods swept through the United States at a record pace in 2025, triggering more flash flood warnings than any year to date. With flood events in 99 percent of U.S. counties over the past 20 years, more communities are vulnerable to flooding than ever before, especially as exposure spreads increasingly inland.

Many homeowners, however, remain unprotected from the risk, underscoring a growing coverage gap as more people move into harm’s way. A new Triple-I Issues Brief explores the insurance industry’s role in closing that gap, as well as the public outreach and mitigation investment needed to reduce losses for all co-beneficiaries of flood resilience.

Extreme weather on the rise

Floods – alongside severe convective storms and wildfires – accounted for nearly all insured global losses last year, at $98 billion of $108 billion, according to Munich Re estimates. In the United States, inland flooding from both tropical and severe convective storms caused much of the devastation, led by the unprecedented Central Texas flood that claimed more than 130 lives.

Defined by NOAA as a rapid swing between two extreme environmental conditions, “weather whiplash” is becoming increasingly frequent in states like Texas and California, where prolonged droughts collide with periods of heavy rains and flooding, amplifying their effects. Fueled by increased tropical moisture from higher ocean temperatures, these drought-to-flood/hot-to-cold transitions drove many of the 21 billion-dollar severe convective storms in 2025, more than any prior year on record.

Flood market growth continues

Many homeowners remain unaware that a standard homeowners’ policy doesn’t cover flood damage or believe flood coverage is unnecessary unless their mortgage lender requires it. A separate 2023 study from Munich Re, in collaboration with Triple-I, found 64 percent of homeowners  believed they were not at risk for flooding. It also is not uncommon for homeowners to drop flood insurance coverage once their mortgage is paid off to save money.

Though more than half of all homeowners with flood insurance are covered by FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), federal regulations introduced in 2019 allowed mortgage lenders to accept private flood insurance if policies abided by regulatory definitions, steering a greater percentage of private insurers to the flood market. Between 2016 and 2024, the total flood market grew by nearly 43 percent – from $3.29 billion in direct premiums written to $4.7 billion – with 79 private companies writing just over 27 percent of the business.

Public-private partnerships are crucial

Comprehensive flood protection, however, entails more than adequate coverage. A joint study from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Allstate found every dollar invested in disaster resilience can save up to $33 in avoided economic costs down the line. The study emphasized the need for collective action at all levels – individual, commercial, and government – to minimize climate and weather losses.

The NFIP’s Community Rating System (CRS) is one such collaboration, which rewards homeowners with premium discounts of up to 45 percent when their communities invest in floodplain management practices exceeding the organization’s minimum standards. By incentivizing improved building codes, citizen awareness campaigns, and other mitigation initiatives, the CRS can strengthen at-risk areas while offering relief where still needed after the cancellation of programs like FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC).

Learn More:

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Few, High-Powered Storms Defined 2025 Hurricane Season

Industry, Universities Team Up to Study Convective Storms

End of Federal Shutdown Revives NFIP — For Now

Storms Slam California, Raising Mudslide Risk

Resilience Investment Payoffs Outpace Future Costs More than 30 TimesSome Weather Service Jobs Being Restored; BRIC Still Being Litigated

Disaster Preparedness, Regulation, Terrorism Risk

TRIA Reauthorization Bill Advances to the House

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

A bill that would extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) through 2034 recently cleared a U.S. House committee with strong bipartisan support, offering hope for the program’s renewal later this year.

Enacted in 2002 after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, TRIA created a federal backstop that shares catastrophic terrorism losses between insurers and the government, allowing private insurance markets and other industries to remain stable while absorbing such events. Congress has reauthorized TRIA four times since its inception, and no events have yet triggered the backstop.

With TRIA scheduled to expire at the end of 2027, many commercial property/casualty insurers are already preparing for the program’s potential lapse, driving risk and insurance leaders to urge proactive legislation ensuring its continuation.

“American businesses must be provided with the essential coverage to successfully operate in today’s uncertain global environment,” said Will Melofchik, CEO of the National Conference of Insurance Legislators, in a statement on the bill last year. “Failure by Congress to extend TRIA would likely result in the inability of insurers to offer coverage for future catastrophes resulting from terrorism, making terrorism risk insurance unavailable and unaffordable.”

Testifying on behalf of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), former Connecticut Insurance Commissioner and NAIC past president Andrew N. Mais said, “Businesses and consumers that live, work, and shop in communities in every state benefit from a stable insurance sector, which provides commercial terrorism insurance only because TRIA exists as a backstop.”

“Absent TRIA or a similar solution, we do not believe private insurance carriers would make meaningful capacity for affordable commercial terrorism coverage available,” Mais added.

Though the bill may evolve as it passes through the full House and Senate, it currently would raise the minimum loss threshold of $5 million to $10 million in 2029, as well as introduce a transparency measure that requires the Treasury Department to publish a notice in the Federal Register no less than 30 days after beginning the terrorism determination process.

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.

Learn More:

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BRIC Funding Loss Underscores Need for Collective Action on Climate Resilience

Claims Volume Up 36% in 2024; Climate, Costs, Litigation Drive Trend

Data Fuels the Assault on Climate-Related Risk

Outdated Building Codes Exacerbate Climate Risk

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.

Learn More:

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Hurricane Helene Highlights Inland Flood Protection Gap

Affordability, Business Risk, Catastrophes, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Risk Management, Roof Condition

Insurer-Backed Tech Leads Effort to Address Deferred Maintenance

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

As property owners grapple with mounting repair and replacement costs, a backlog of needed upkeep continues to grow, with public buildings alone facing a deferred maintenance cost of nearly $100 billion across states, according to recent Pew estimates. Left unaddressed, these maintenance gaps can escalate into greater damages and more expensive repairs when catastrophes happen, leading to costlier claims.

Digital platform HelixIntel aims to bridge the gap by helping businesses and organizations create maintenance strategies in partnership with the insurers who protect them. Offering a “one-stop” approach to maintenance management, the platform can capture real-time risk data while streamlining maintenance organization and productivity, driving safer behaviors and preventative practices before facilities or equipment break down.

“What we’ve seen is that everyone wants to be involved and know what they can do to help,” said CEO and co-founder Jon DeWald, in an Executive Exchange interview with Triple-I CEO Sean Kevelighan. “What we’re working on is really showing that there’s two teams – both properties and insurers, who have the same mission in mind – and being able to provide tools that allow them to collaborate.”

Noting the unique maintenance required across various industries – from “large school districts with facility directors” to small businesses “where one person takes care of everything” – DeWald discussed how HelixIntel maximizes its impact by working directly with insurers, who then distribute the platform to their customers. The platform teamed up with Hartford Steam Boiler (HSB), for instance, to support policyholders with equipment breakdown coverage.

Beyond helping lower the cost of entry to new tech for consumers, such partnerships allow the platform to leverage the comprehensive data that insurance carriers have access to, facilitating predictive recommendations rather than purely reactive maintenance, DeWald explained.

“We’ve been saying for some time at Triple-I that the insurance industry is shifting from just detecting and repairing after a catastrophe to now predicting and preventing,” said Kevelighan, adding that, by quantifying maintenance, innovators like HelixIntel enable insurers and consumers to “really understand the return on their own investment.”

Quantifying the benefits of maintenance investments is also essential to inform effective risk mitigation and resource allocation for policymakers, who often lack insight into the impacts of deferred maintenance due to insufficient data collection and reporting. Tracking asset health, maintenance tasks, and other property-specific data through a centralized management system can help state facilities identify overdue repairs and develop long-term maintenance planning, fostering more resilient communities.

Though once regarded as a “cost center,” maintenance and other risk management initiatives are “moving more and more into the actual business strategy, so that businesses and the insurance companies that are focused on those businesses are able to prevent those losses and keep businesses open,” Kevelighan concluded.

Learn More:

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Storm-Resistant Roof Efforts Gain Ground

Commercial Lightning Losses: You Can’t Manage What You Don’t Measure

Resilience Investment Payoffs Outpace Future Costs More Than 30 Times

‘Predict and Prevent’ Insurance Model Can Restore Consumer Trust: Nationwide

Study Supports Defensible Space, Home Hardening as Wildfire Resilience Tools

Can a Fire-Prevention Device Be a “Gateway Drug” to Home Resilience?

Easing Home Upkeep to Control Insurance Costs

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

Severe Winter Weather Ravages U.S. Communities

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By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I

Millions of Americans remain on alert for a severe weather outbreak across the country after devastating atmospheric rivers, tornadoes, and winter storms raged at the close of 2025, causing multiple deaths and significant property damage from coast to coast.

Southern California saw its wettest Christmas Eve and Day ever recorded, with more than 17 inches of rainfall in one area of Ventura County and 10 inches in parts of the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles County. Downing trees and power lines, the heavy rains triggered flash flooding and mudflows that hit hundreds of homes, prompting road closures and power outages throughout the state.

Another unusual weather system spawned 13 tornadoes across the Great Lakes in late December, with six in Central Illinois alone, damaging numerous homes. Prior to last year, only five December tornadoes had been recorded in that forecast area, the last of which occurred in 2021. Frigid cold conditions followed the storm as a bomb cyclone – part of the same system that drenched California – swept from the Midwest to the East Coast.

Defined as a rapidly intensifying non-tropical storm in which pressure drops by at least 24 millibars over a 24-hour period, the bomb cyclone generated blizzard conditions resulting in power outages for more than 300,000 customers and a massive Interstate pile-up involving over 50 cars and multiple semi-trucks in Detroit, Mich. Several feet of snow buried Upstate New York, with the hardest-hit areas in the Lake Ontario snowbelt.

As conditions begin tapering off on the West Coast, the first cross-country storm of 2026 is expected to bring torrential rain and snow in the South and much of the Midwest later this week. Threats of flash flooding as well as hail, tornadoes, and damaging winds loom across both regions, with heavy rains possible in the Northeast.

As always, Triple-I urges residents to stay informed, be prepared, and follow the instructions of local authorities. Checking insurance coverage is critical to such preparation, especially as atmospheric rivers, severe convective storms, and inland flooding become increasingly common. Many noncoastal communities impacted by recent flood events lack sufficient flood protection, and Californians grappling with claims from the storms may also be unaware they need separate flood policies for flooding and mudflow.