{"id":25386,"date":"2026-09-17T16:50:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T16:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/?p=885504"},"modified":"2026-09-17T16:50:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T16:50:18","slug":"100-years-after-miami-hurricane-similar-storm-would-top-200b-in-losses-swiss-re","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2026\/09\/17\/100-years-after-miami-hurricane-similar-storm-would-top-200b-in-losses-swiss-re\/","title":{"rendered":"100 Years After Miami Hurricane, Similar Storm Would Top $200B in Losses\u2014Swiss Re"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/09\/casino_wreckage-580x393.jpg\"><\/p>\n<ul class=\"nav nav-tabs tabs tabs-entry\">\n<li class=\"active\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/news\/southeast\/2026\/09\/17\/885504.htm\">Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/news\/southeast\/2026\/09\/17\/885504.htm?comments\" rel=\"nofollow\">0 Comments<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"article-content clearfix\">\n<p>The Atlantic has been pretty quiet so far this season, but one system east of Bermuda could soon develop into a tropical storm, the National Hurricane Center said Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>If the storm were to develop into a Category 5 hurricane that strikes heavily populated cities like Miami or Tampa Bay, the insured losses could top $300 billion\u2014more than any previous insured-loss event, Swiss Re said in a report released this week.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bzn bzn-sized bzn-intext\">\n<ins data-revive-zoneid=\"79\" data-revive-topics=\"catastrophe,hurricane,natural-disasters,profit-loss,windstorm\" data-revive-companies=\"swissre\" data-revive-block=\"1\" data-revive-id=\"36eb7c2bd3daa932a43cc2a8ffbed3a9\"><\/ins> <\/div>\n<p>The Zurich-based reinsurer pointed out that one of the most damaging storms to hit Florida came a century ago, in 1926, and became known as the Great Miami Hurricane. A Category 4 storm of similar strength and size today would cause about $200 billion in insured losses.<\/p>\n<p>By comparison, Hurricane Ian, which struck western Florida in 2022 as a Category 4, caused about $63 billion in insured losses, Karen Clark &amp; Co. and other firms have calculated.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_885511\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-885511\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fla-pop-growth.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-885511\" src=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fla-pop-growth-580x500.png\" alt width=\"460\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fla-pop-growth-580x500.png 580w, https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fla-pop-growth-300x259.png 300w, https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fla-pop-growth-768x662.png 768w, https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fla-pop-growth.png 798w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-885511\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">From the Swiss Re report. Click to enlarge chart.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cOne hundred years after the Great Miami Hurricane, the question is not simply how powerful the next major hurricane will be, but what it will encounter when it reaches shore,\u201d Balz Grollimund, head of catastrophe perils at Swiss Re said in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swissre.com\/press-release\/100-years-after-the-Great-Miami-Hurricane-Florida-hurricane-could-cause-USD-300-billion-or-more-in-insured-losses-finds-Swiss-Re-Institute\/eac93803-92d3-4528-82fa-94833ba4146b\">report<\/a> this week. \u201cThat lesson extends well beyond Florida: As populations and asset values increase in areas exposed to natural catastrophes, so does the potential for large insured losses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And 34 years after Hurricane Andrew made landfall near Miami and changed building codes and construction practices in the state, a similar storm would produce almost $100 billion in insured losses, Swiss Re estimated. Andrew caused an estimated $25 billion in insured losses, in today\u2019s dollars.<\/p>\n<p>The increase in estimated loss costs is due not only to inflation over the decades, but also from a population explosion in Florida and widespread and high-end property development.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA century of population and property growth has transformed the potential impact of a hurricane striking Miami-Dade County,\u201d the Swiss Re report noted. \u201cJust over 100,000 residents lived there when the Great Miami Hurricane arrived in 1926, compared with around 2.8 million in Miami-Dade today.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"bzn bzn-sized bzn-intext-2\">\n<ins data-revive-zoneid=\"162\" data-revive-topics=\"catastrophe,hurricane,natural-disasters,profit-loss,windstorm\" data-revive-companies=\"swissre\" data-revive-block=\"1\" data-revive-id=\"36eb7c2bd3daa932a43cc2a8ffbed3a9\"><\/ins> <\/div>\n<p>More than two million homes in the Miami metropolitan area, with a combined reconstruction cost exceeding $600 billion, are now at moderate or greater risk of hurricane wind damage, the reinsurer explained.<\/p>\n<p>But Florida property insurance carriers may also be better prepared for a monster storm that may land on a big city today, at least by some measures, the firm noted. Traditional and alternative reinsurance capacity can be more effective when supported by catastrophe modeling, disciplined accumulation management and effective mitigation, the report said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGrowth in both traditional and alternative reinsurance capital may help keep pace with rising natural catastrophe risks. US wind is the dominant risk in the USD 60 billion cat-bond market and Florida tail risk capacity in reinsurance and retrocession markets relies heavily on the additional alternative capacity,\u201d the report noted.<\/p>\n<p>As exposures continue to accumulate, maintaining sufficient risk-transfer capacity must go hand in hand with robust modeling, disciplined accumulation management and effective mitigation.<\/p>\n<p>Stronger building codes and wind-resistant construction can help reduce hurricane losses. Updated standards helped newer homes in Florida withstand Hurricane Ian, while replaced and storm-proofed roofs have further reduced vulnerability, the Swiss Re authors wrote. The authors are <span class=\"ArticleMeta--author\">Lucia Bevere, senior catastrophe data analyst;<\/span><span class=\"ArticleMeta--author\"> Erik Lindgren, wind perils lead; and<\/span><span class=\"ArticleMeta--author\"> James Finucane, head of life and health economic research at Swiss Re Institute.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Top photo: The wreckage of a Miami casino after the 1926 hurricane. (National Weather Service)<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"tagtag\"> <span class=\"tagtag\">Topics<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/catastrophe\/\" class=\"btn btn-sm btn-primary tagtag\">Catastrophe<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/natural-disasters\/\" class=\"btn btn-sm btn-primary tagtag\">Natural Disasters<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/profit-loss\/\" class=\"btn btn-sm btn-primary tagtag\">Profit Loss<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/windstorm\/\" class=\"btn btn-sm btn-primary tagtag\">Windstorm<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/hurricane\/\" class=\"btn btn-sm btn-primary tagtag\">Hurricane<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll\" data-post=\"885504\">\n<div class=\"article-poll-vote\">\n<p>Was this article valuable?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll-feedback voted-no\">\n<form class=\"feedback-form\">\n<p>Thank you! Please tell us what we can do to improve this article.<\/p>\n<p> <textarea placeholder=\"Enter your feedback...\"><\/textarea> <button type=\"submit\" class=\"submit\" disabled>Submit<\/button> <button class=\"cancel\">No Thanks<\/button> <\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll-feedback voted-yes\">\n<form class=\"feedback-form\">\n<p>Thank you! <span class=\"percent\"><\/span>% of people found this article valuable. Please tell us what you liked about it.<\/p>\n<p> <textarea placeholder=\"Enter your feedback...\"><\/textarea> <button type=\"submit\" class=\"submit\" disabled>Submit<\/button> <button class=\"cancel\">No Thanks<\/button> <\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll-more-articles\">\n<p class=\"thank-you-text\">Here are more articles you may enjoy.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"subscribe-banner subscribe-banner-in-content-2\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h4>Interested in <em>Catastrophe<\/em>?<\/h4>\n<p>Get automatic alerts for this topic.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Article 0 Comments The Atlantic has been pretty quiet so far this season, but one system east of Bermuda could soon develop into a tropical storm, the National Hurricane Center said Thursday. If the&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[2238,2239,2240,1,45],"class_list":["post-25386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-florida-hurricane-vulnerability","tag-homeowners-insurance-in-florida","tag-insured-losses-from-hurricanes","tag-news","tag-southeast-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/100-years-after-miami-hurricane-similar-storm-would-top-200b-in-losses-swiss-re.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}