Hurricane Matthew flooded St. Augustine and Jacksonville and left extensive damage along parts of Florida's eastern coastline, but as the storm exited the Sunshine State on Friday, the state's insurance industry breathed a sigh of relief — it could have been much worse.
Thanks to a slight jog to the east as it approached, Matthew's eye stayed just offshore and spared Florida from potential widespread destruction from its southern tip to the Georgia border. And while the storm did cause major damage in various parts of the state, the industry is in good financial shape and equipped to handle it, according to experts, who do not expect to see another insurance crisis like that caused by the active 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons.
"I think you'll always have a few companies that have some financial problems because of a storm of this magnitude, but generally by and large the industry in Florida, the domestics, Citizens and some of the national carriers are all in very healthy financial positions to weather this," said Fred Karlinsky, co-chair of Greenberg Traurig LLP's insurance regulatory and transactions group.