Homeowners lost coverage due to big storms

NEW YORK, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Some 3 million U.S. homeowners in states that do not get hurricanes have lost home insurance due to hurricanes in other parts of the country, officials say.

Companies including Allstate Corp., State Farm Insurance Cos. and Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. have canceled the policies, claiming "hurricane events" such as Katrina, which hit the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005, had forced them to limit their exposure to further losses, The New York Times reported.

Since last year, those three companies and others have turned down all new homeowners' insurance business in New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland, Massachusetts and the eight counties in New York's Hudson Valley region, the newspaper said.

While most homeowners have found coverage with other insurers, most have come with higher rates and larger deductibles.

The insurers say they are obliged to avoid undue risks and to remain solvent.

"Considering what happened between 2003 and 2005, and considering that the best meteorological minds are telling us that for the next 15 to 20 years hurricane activity will be heavier than normal, if we didn’t do something to reduce our exposure, we'd be out of business," Insurance Information Institute President Robert Hartwig told the Times.