As more Floridians turn to state's insurer of last resort, it seeks to raise rates

Jun 21, 2024
Citizens Property Insurance has a huge risk load as private insurers avoid the state. Many residents say coverage is already costly.
A home in the Florida Keys destroyed by Hurricane Irma in 2017. For insurance companies, the state's exposure to climate damage has been a dealbreaker.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Scientists hope to improve hurricane forecasting with new government investment

May 27, 2024
Forecasters are predicting an active, dangerous year of hurricanes.
Above, Sarasota Bay during Hurricane Ian in September 2022. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts that this year will have above-normal hurricane activity.
Sean Rayford/Getty Images

Why the CAT bond market is booming right now

Mar 13, 2024
They're called CAT — for catastrophe — bonds, and insurers and investors can't get enough of them.
If disaster does strike, CAT bond investors could potentially lose the principal, interest or both. Above, destroyed homes and storm debris in Florida after Hurricane Ian in 2022.
Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images

SEC adopts rule making companies disclose climate risks

Mar 7, 2024
The rules are softer than those initially proposed.
New SEC rules are intended to standardize reporting requirements on things like emissions and exposure to climate change-related disasters.
Giles Clarke/Getty Images

Flood insurance program updates hit homeowners hard

May 16, 2023
In some counties, the rates for property owners have increased on average more than 600 percent.
The federal government's flood insurance program is now more accurate in its risk assessment. That's affecting the price of buying insurance for many homeowners.
David Greedy/Getty Images

Hurricane risk will grow in the coming decades, report warns

Mar 1, 2023
A new tool shows the likelihood of wind damage by property address.
Cleared lots were all that remained of some homes in Fort Myers Beach, Florida, in late January, months after Hurricane Ian ravaged the area.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

How aid is getting to earthquake-affected Turkey and Syria

Inside the partnerships getting essential aid and care to those impacted by the recent earthquake.
Mehmet Kacmaz/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

How a Buffalo business weathered a record-breaking storm

Jan 19, 2023
Inventory loss “could have been a lot worse,” said Johanna Dominguez of Put a Plant on It. But merchants suffered as shoppers stayed home.
Vehicles sit buried in snow and abandoned in downtown Buffalo, New York, the day after Christmas. The storm's cost surpassed $1 billion.
Joed Viera/AFP via Getty Images

Wildfires are more frequent, getting worse — and straining government budgets

Dec 12, 2022
Federal spending by the two main agencies that manage wildfires has doubled in the last decade, Pew found. States are spending more too.
A fire burns east of Eugene, Oregon, in September 2020. Pew researcher Colin Foard pointed out that the state of Washington's average annual spending on wildfires more than tripled during the 2010s.
Tyee Burwell/AFP via Getty Images

Southwest Florida had an affordable housing shortage. Hurricane Ian made it worse.

Nov 22, 2022
Lee County in Southwest Florida, where the storm made landfall, still faces monumental challenges housing people displaced by the storm.
About a month after Hurricane Ian made landfall near Fort Myers, piles of debris lined the streets. "That has all of their drywall, carpeting, all their cabinets, beds and everything," said Gladys Cook at the Florida Housing Coalition. "There’s thousands of people in that situation.”
Mitchell Hartman/Marketplace