(NewsNation) — Hurricane Milton could result in losses of up to $100 billion for the global insurance industry, creating a surge in 2025 reinsurance prices that could boost some insurance companies’ shares, analysts said on Wednesday.
The hurricane is expected to make landfall on the Gulf Coast of Florida late on Wednesday or early Thursday. It is potentially one of the most destructive to hit the region, which is recovering from Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago.
Analysts at Jefferies estimated a mid-double-digit billion-dollar insured loss would follow a major hurricane impact in one of Florida’s most heavily populated regions.
“A 1-in-100-year event is estimated by some to result in $175 billion in losses for landfall in the Tampa region and $70 billion in losses in the Fort Myers region,” they wrote in a note, outlining an extreme scenario.
Mark Zandi, the chief economist for Moody’s Analytics, told NewsNation that Milton could cause damage similar to that of Hurricane Katrina.
“Just for context, do you remember Hurricane Katrina, that was the 2005 Category 5 that hit Louisiana? That cost $160 billion in today’s dollars, and that includes the property damage — both insured and uninsured.”
Zandi said that the federal government will ultimately step in and help those impacted by the storm.
“The insured loss is ultimately covered by the federal government,” he said. “So the federal government has been coming in and making everyone whole — ultimately whole. I mean, obviously, what the damage this creates is enormous to people, but the economic damage is made whole by the federal government.”
Reuters contributed to this report.