June 2020
- The costliest Louisiana hurricane ever was Hurricane Katrina, which caused nearly $25.4 billion in insured losses in Louisiana in 2005 (about $33.4 billion in 2019 dollars). These losses do not include flood damage covered under the federal government’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
- Hurricane Katrina resulted in $13.1 billion in flood insurance losses in Louisiana paid by the NFIP.
- Hurricane Katrina was the costliest hurricane to hit the U.S. (See chart below.)
- Hurricane Katrina was also the deadliest hurricane in Louisiana’s history, with some 1,800 fatalities reported.
- Standard homeowners policies typically do not cover flood damage. Flood insurance is covered by the federally managed National Flood Insurance Program, and private flood insurance is becoming increasingly available.
- The number of flood insurance policies in force in Louisiana rose by 27 percent from 388,121 in 2005 to 494,370 in 2006, the year following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. There were 501,289 flood insurance policies in Louisiana in 2018 up from 498,271 in 2017.
- In Louisiana, about 843,000 single-family homes were at risk in 2020 for storm surge damage from hurricanes up to Category 5 strength, according to CoreLogic, Inc. These homes would cost $202 billion to completely rebuild, including labor and materials.
- The number of people living in coastal areas in Louisiana increased from 2010 to 2015 by 128,232 people or 4 percent to 3.7 million, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. About 79 percent of the total population of Louisiana lived in coastal counties in 2015.
- Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. (Louisiana Citizens) was created by the state legislature in 2003 to oversee the state’s Coastal and FAIR (Fair Access to Insurance Requirements) plans. This state-run entity acts as a market of last resort for residential and commercial property insurance in Louisiana.
- Citizens is working to transfer policies back to private insurers. It had 38,000 policies in force in 2019 down from 61,549 in 2017.
Additional resources
Louisiana Citizens: Website
