Hurricane Dennis Claims: $47M Paid Out; Total Expected to Exceed $900M

Insurance companies in Florida have already paid out more than $47 million on about 46,000 claims for damage caused last month by Hurricane Dennis, according to statistics released by the Office of Insurance Regulation.

The report indicated insurers expect to eventually pay out more than $900 million in claims from the Category 3 hurricane, which made landfall near Pensacola July 10. More than $640 million of those claims are expected to be from Florida.

OIR said of the claims already filed in Florida, more than 75 percent were filed by policyholders in Santa Rosa, Escambia and Okaloosa counties in the western Panhandle. Claims were reported in every Florida county except Union, the OIR said.

Residents of Santa Rosa County have filed the most claims so far. The county has accounted for 18,950 claims, or about 40 percent of those filed.