The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) recently announced the results of its third year of catastrophe stress tests, which included all of the state’s 112 insurance companies, including 67 Florida-based insurers.

Here’s the good news: The results showed that the Florida property insurance market can withstand significant catastrophic losses. All 112 companies that participated in the Annual Reinsurance Data Call were found to have sufficient resources (reinsurance, capital and surplus) to pay policyholder claims in the event of a one in a 100 year storm.

The stress test covered three of Florida’s most challenging historical scenarios: The first was the great hurricane of 1947 that hit Fort Lauderdale with category 4 winds of 147 MPH. The second was the Tampa hurricane of 1921, which had sustained winds of 140 MPH. The third included the four storms of 2004, Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne.

Our association believes that these results should give homeowners the confidence in Florida-based homeowners insurers to withstand the worst-case storm seasons. The result of the OIR’s research demonstrates the true financial strength of these companies.