Florida came first. Then Louisiana.
Now an insurance crisis that has swept across the Gulf Coast is spilling into Texas, where increasingly scarce property coverage has forced tens of thousands of coastal homeowners to buy policies from a state-chartered insurance program.
The rapid growth has alarmed officials and insurers. And it’s raised concerns that if a major storm hits Texas, so many claims will be filed that the state-chartered insurer will force insurance companies and residents statewide to help pay them.
The mushrooming problems have made Texas the latest state to feel the effects of the insurance industry’s ongoing contraction in the Gulf area following huge losses from recent storms and litigation.
Many smaller insurers in the region have become insolvent in the past year or stopped covering property in hurricane-prone areas such as the Texas coast. That’s triggered unprecedented growth in the region’s state-chartered insurance programs at a time of devastating storms.