WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — In the lobby of the Palm Beach County Convention Center, almost everyone attending the Governor's Hurricane Conference knows about the predictions for the upcoming hurricane season.
"I think the early predictions of a supercharged season have people's attention," Mary Blakeney, Palm Beach County's Emergency Management director, said.
Early forecasts point to a warming Atlantic Ocean and a return to a La Nina weather pattern as reasons for a very active storm season starting on June 1.
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"The inland flooding, the storm surge, those are all factors, and we really need to get focused on that," Blakeney said. "I think the storms over the last couple of years really emphasized how flooding and wind are a huge factor."
"It's all driving up the cost of insurance," Bob Bunting of the Climate Adaptation Center in Sarasota said.
He said the recent sea level rise of just a couple of inches has now made moderate storms capable of causing serious damage.
It has led his organization to meet with reinsurance modelers on how insurance can adapt.
"We're helping them think through innovative products that could help lower the risk of certain kinds of events," Bunting said. "The insurance industry needs to use the information we have about climate and where it's going to design innovative insurance products for the threats we’re going to have not the threats we used to have."
If you have a question or comment on homeowners insurance, email WPTV reporter Matt Sczesny at matt.sczesny@wptv.com
