Hurricane Debby Florida lost $121 million; 60% of claims closed

A month after Hurricane Debby made landfall in North Florida, the number of property insurance claims has reached nearly 20,000 and total estimated losses are more than $121.5 million, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation reported this week .

The number of claims from Debby is approaching 25,000 filed in the 10 weeks after Hurricane Idalia hit the same Big Bend area last year. But the dollar value of Debby’s losses so far is less than half of Idalia’s total.

Related: Atlantic hurricane season could intensify in coming weeks, forecasters say

Most claims from Debby, which hit Aug. 5, are from residential properties. Only about 207 private flood insurance claims were recorded, the OIR tally shows. Some 5,462 claims were closed with payment, but 6,447 were closed without payment, suggesting that much of the damage left by Debby was actually from flooding and storm surges – damage not generally covered by insurance policies of property and wind.

About 60% of Debby’s requests were closed by September 6th. For Idalia, 76% were closed after 10 weeks.

Related: Frequency of deadly hurricanes up 300%

Florida law requires insurers to periodically report damage data after storms. Gallagher Re said in August that losses from Hurricane Debby should be very manageable for the insurance industry.

Top photo: Protective measures are taken at a business ahead of Hurricane Debby in Cedar Key, Florida, on August 4.