Climate change

Between the estimated damages in Los Angeles and rising home insurance prices, policyholders are left wondering how the market will fare in 2025.

Ice storms, straight-line winds and tornadoes occur more frequently than hurricanes and earthquakes and those insurance claims can stack substantially.

It's not an unthinkable notion. There have been a handful of attempts at systematically moving populations away from regions severely affected by climate change.

The insurance market going into the Jan. 7 catastrophe already had been hit with non-renewals and cancellations -- and an overburdened state-supported insurance plan. A Morningstar analyst said the state insurance commissioner's reform strategy could have turned it around but now faces new obstacles.

The National Flood Insurance Program has been kept alive with short-term authorizations since 2017. Flood risk data and increased use could strengthen it.

The California FAIR Plan Association, already vulnerable financially, will likely need an assessment of insurers or policyholders as a rescue measure, according to experts.

California's governor previously prohibited price gouging for building materials and housing services after wildfires destroyed or damaged 12,000 structures.

The Palisades fire, stretched across an area larger than Manhattan and where the median home price approaches $4 million, has damaged or destroyed more than 5,000 structures.

Verisk and Moody's are the first two modeling companies to submit their models to the California Department of Insurance. A Verisk executive explained the functioning of their model and what insurers' options are.

A trio of blazes in SoCal have destroyed over 2,000 homes and structures in neighborhoods with average property values well above the national average.