home insurance

Los Angeles Recovers From Historically Devastating Wildfires

Here's how climate change is affecting your home insurance

5:06am June 11, 2025

by Michel Martin

Insurance costs are soaring, and coverage is hard to find in some parts of the United States. Communities say insurers are ignoring their efforts to confront the problem.

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Before they lost their homes in the LA fires, many lost their insurance

6:10pm February 03, 2025

by Jennifer Ludden

Big insurance companies have pulled back from California, forcing thousands to turn to insurers of last resort. Fire victims say the limited policies will make recovery and rebuilding more difficult.

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North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey

Home insurers argue for a 42% average rate hike in North Carolina

8:32am October 08, 2024

by Gary D. Robertson, Associated Press

With many western North Carolina residents still lacking power and running water from Hurricane Helene, a hearing began Monday on the insurance industry's request to raise homeowner premium rates statewide by more than 42% on average.

In this aerial view, the destruction left in the wake of Hurricane Ian is shown on Oct. 2, 2022, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla. The state's home insurance market is reeling after disasters like this one.

Feeling the pinch of high home insurance rates? It's not getting better anytime soon

4:53pm October 26, 2023

by Greg Allen

Homeowners in Florida, like other states, are seeing their home insurance rates soar. Multibillion-dollar disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires have led insurers to hike premiums.

Rich Snyder, who retired as the fire marshal of Sierra Madre, Calif., now works for Allied Disaster Defense, a California company that hardens homes against wildfire. One strategy is covering air vents with ember-blocking mesh.

Preparing homes for wildfires is big business that's only getting started

5:00am September 15, 2023

by Alina Selyukh

Climate change, technological leaps, panicked insurers, the shifting sense of responsibility: All are powering the still-nascent, but fast-growing industry of preparing homes for wildfires.

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A row of mailboxes tagged with evacuation notices during the Oak Fire in Mariposa, Calif., in July 2022. Many residents in the area are losing their home insurance because of rising wildfire risk.

How climate change could cause a home insurance meltdown

4:29pm July 24, 2023

It's increasingly expensive and difficult to get home insurance, as losses rise from climate-driven disasters such as wildfires and hurricanes. And the solutions aren't always politically popular.

Damage from Hurricane Ian near Pine Island, Fla., in 2022. The storm caused at least $50 billion in insured damage.

Insurance firms need more climate change information. Scientists say they can help

10:56am May 23, 2023

by Rebecca Hersher

Floods, wildfires, heat waves and hurricanes cause billions of dollars of property damage each year. Can federal climate scientists help the insurance industry keep up?

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Firefighters battle the Caldor Fire this month along Highway 89 west of Lake Tahoe in California.

How A Blistering Housing Market Could Be Making Wildfires Even More Dangerous

12:04pm September 14, 2021

by Greg Rosalsky

California homes are burning. Why are they still increasing in value in regions prone to fire?