Hurricane Isaias insurance claims top 46,500 with $582 million in estimated losses as Florida awaits a federal disaster decision

Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday, Oct. 19, 2026, that he had spoken with the FEMA director the day before and that the agency is processing Florida’s request for a major disaster declaration after Hurricane Isaias. “We anticipate that will happen relatively soon,” DeSantis said, WFTV reported.¹ News4Jax also reported his remarks that FEMA is processing the request.²

Isaias came ashore near Destin on Oct. 9 as a Category 2 hurricane, the Florida Phoenix reported, and has been blamed for at least six deaths in Florida.³⁴

Insurance claims

Insurers had reported 46,509 claims from the storm with $581,980,952 in estimated insured losses as of Oct. 15, according to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation’s Hurricane Isaias claims page.⁵ Of those claims, 40,392 were open with no payment made, 572 were open with a payment, 1,127 had been closed with a payment and 4,418 had been closed without one. The office lists 11.9% of all claims as closed.⁵

Residential property made up most of the total: 40,406 claims and $558,610,076 in losses. Within that category, homeowners policies accounted for 35,014 claims and $484,646,843. Of the residential claims, 35,175 were open without a payment.⁵

Three counties produced most of the claims, according to the office’s county table:⁵

• Santa Rosa: 22,894 claims
• Escambia: 13,677 claims
• Okaloosa: 4,334 claims
• Walton: 1,727 claims
• Bay: 1,703 claims

The office’s table of reasons for claims closed without payment lists 3,785 closed for administrative reasons, 352 for coverage exclusions or no policy in force, 222 because damage fell below the deductible and 86 for lack of flood coverage. None is listed as closed for fraud. Those reasons add up to 4,445, which is 27 more than the 4,418 closed-without-payment claims in the office’s totals; the page does not explain the difference.⁵

The federal request

The governor’s office announced Oct. 16 that the Florida Division of Emergency Management had submitted a request to President Donald Trump for a major disaster declaration. It seeks Public Assistance for 15 counties: Bay, Calhoun, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Liberty, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Wakulla, Walton and Washington. It seeks Individual Assistance for residents of eight of them: Bay, Escambia, Gulf, Holmes, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton and Washington.⁶

The Florida Phoenix reported that the request, submitted Oct. 15, seeks roughly $237 million for debris removal, public infrastructure and emergency protective measures. The Phoenix also reported that the division’s preliminary assessments found nearly 1,000 damaged homes in the eight Individual Assistance counties, and that a division spokesperson said fully assessing the damage “could take several months.”³

At an Oct. 19 event in Pensacola, DeSantis announced travel trailers for displaced families through the nonprofit Emergency RV and $5,000 grants for first responders affected by the storm. WUWF reported that the state had received almost 300 trailer applications from Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties by midday.⁷

What the records do not show

• The governor’s Oct. 16 release does not state a dollar amount for the request, and the request letter itself was not posted with it; the $237 million figure comes from the Florida Phoenix’s reporting.
• As of Oct. 20, FEMA’s declarations data listed only the emergency declaration for Isaias approved Oct. 9 (EM-3655) for Florida, and no major disaster declaration.⁸
• The state’s claims page shows claim counts by county but not insured losses by county.
• The claims figures are as of Oct. 15; the page had not posted a newer update when checked Oct. 20.