Report: Insured damages for Hurricane Michael pegged at $3B to $5B

CoreLogic projects that Hurricane Michael's wind and storm surge caused between $3 billion and $5 billion in insured losses across all states the storm passed through. Of that, Florida is expected to account for $2.5 billion to 4 billion.

"At this time, it is unlikely that inland flooding will be a major contributor to loss totals, but CoreLogic will continue to evaluate this as the storm unfolds," the company said in a release Friday afternoon.

Its post-landfall estimates include losses covered by the National Flood Insurance Program.

Because many Panhandle residents have not been able to make it back to their homes to take stock of the storm's destruction, it is too early for most insurance companies to report claims data.

Citizens Property Insurance Co., the state-run insurer of last resort, however, had some early numbers. It expects about 12,000 claims from storm damage, spokesman Michael Peltier said.

"We're expecting to have a trickle of claims over the next couple of days (and) a surge Monday when folks have had a little more time to get back to their homes and survey what's going on," he said.

As of mid-afternoon, Peltier said Citizens had received 400 claims and had begun writing living expenses checks to policyholders who came to the insurer's mobile unit in Tallahassee. Citizens has three available mobile units, and will move into harder-hit areas once it is safe to do so.

The bulk of the claims thus far, Peltier said, are from wind, as opposed to water and surge. "Every hurricane sort of changes a bit," he said.

Wright National Flood Insurance, which has the highest number of National Flood Insurance Program policyholders in the country, did not have early claims estimates. According to spokeswoman Dolores Glass, the insurer's adjusters had not been able to get into many affected areas yet.

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Contact Malena Carollo at mcarollo@tampabay.com or (727) 892-2249. Follow @malenacarollo.