After Tens of Billions in Insured Losses, Record-Breaking Hurricane Season Ends

The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season ends Nov. 30 after 18 named storms including the earliest Category 5 storm on record, and possibly one of the costliest hurricanes to the insurance industry.

Of the 18 named storms, 11 were hurricanes and five were major hurricanes — at least Category 3 with sustained winds of 111 mph. The average hurricane season is 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

Five hurricanes (Debby, Beryl, Francine, Helene, and Milton) made U.S. landfall in 2024, and two (Helene and Milton) were major hurricanes. Total estimated losses from the hurricanes are likely to be between $25.5 billion and $68.5 billion.

With private insured-loss estimates from modelers as high as $50 billion, Milton is poised to take a place among the costliest storms in U.S. history.

Catastrophe modeler Karen Clark & Co (KCC) pegged insured losses from Milton—whose rapid strengthening in early October to a Category 5 was among the fastest ever observed, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—at $36 billion while Moody’s RMS put a range of losses at between $22 billion and $36 billion, with a best guess of $26 billion.

NOAA said Milton was the strongest late-season storm on record and it struck near Siesta Key, Florida on Oct. 9 as a Category 3. Most damage was caused by wind, including from dozens of tornadoes spun off from Milton. Therefore, more of the losses will be covered by the insurance industry whereas damage from flood and storm surge are excluded by standard homeowners policies.

Much of the insured losses from Milton, as well as losses from other storms in 2024, will be absorbed by the primary insurance market following early-2024 moves by reinsurers toward higher attachment points. This is a trend AIG chief executive Peter Zaffino expects to continue in 2025. The insurer said it puts losses from Milton in the $175 million to $275 million range.

As a fourth-quarter event, the impact of Milton to individual insurers is just coming to light. Allstate recently said pretax catastrophe losses just during October were $102 million from Hurricane Milton. Zurich said preliminary fourth-quarter pretax losses from Hurricane Milton will be below $200 million. Liberty Mutual put a pretax catastrophe loss range of between $250 million and $350 million from Milton, and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway added a pretax loss estimate from Milton of between $1.3 billion and $1.5 billion.

Though it was the costliest 2024 hurricane to the insurance industry, Milton was not the only storm of note during the season. Nor was it the only Category 5. In fact, NOAA said Hurricane Beryl in late June was the earliest Atlantic basin Category 5 hurricane on record, but the storm weakened to a Category 1 before hitting land near Matagorda, Texas. KCC said losses from Beryl would be about $2.7 billion. Moody’s RMS added an estimate of $2.5 billion to $4.5 billion.

Hurricane Helene has recently received plenty of airplay as insurers released information on losses in third-quarter earnings. The storm—the deadliest since hurricane Katrina in 2005—holds a record of its own as the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida as a Category 4 in late-September. Helene went on to dump record rainfall in Southeast states including Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Due to low population where Helene made landfall, and the fact most damage was caused by flood, insured-loss estimates were relatively low. KCC estimated privately insured losses from Hurricane Helene of about $6.4 billion from damage in a total of nine states. Verisk added a prediction of between $6 billion and $11 billion in insured losses to the industry.

While releasing third quarter earnings, Liberty Mutual said losses from Hurricane Helene totaled $458 million. Progressive chimed in and said it logged $563 million in catastrophe losses in September from Helene. At Berkshire’s GEICO, loss and loss adjustment expenses were about $260 million in Q3 from Hurricane Helene. In taking on $1.7 billion in catastrophe losses in Q3 from hurricanes Beryl, Debby, Francine and Helene, Allstate said Helene specifically caused $630 million in pretax losses. AIG said its $410 million in Q3 catastrophe losses were driven by hurricanes Helene and Beryl, while Q3 results for Chubb included losses of about $250 million from Helene. The storm caused $104 million in losses to The Hartford, and Travelers said it booked $939 million in Q3 catastrophe losses, mostly from Hurricane Helene.

Like Helene, Hurricane Debby in August also hit Florida’s Big Bend, causing an estimated $1.4 billion in privately insured losses. The next month, on Sept. 11, Category 2 Hurricane Francine landed at Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. It is expected to cause industry losses of about $1.5 billion.

Top photo: Debris is strewn on the lake in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, in Lake Lure, N.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart).