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Quiet 2025 Atlantic season highlights low flood coverage in storm-hit areas
Neptune Flood estimates Hurricane Helene led to $20 billion to $30 billion in uninsured losses, while only about 2% of residents in the 100 counties hardest hit by the storm carry flood insurance.
A Neptune Flood analysis of the past decade of Atlantic hurricane activity challenges the idea that a calm season means reduced flood risk for homeowners and commercial property clients. The research points to how many households interpret the 2025 Atlantic season, which ended with no hurricane landfall in the continental United States for the first time in a decade, even though the season still produced three Category 5 hurricanes.
The report says national flood insurance penetration is about 4%, but it drops to around 2% across the 100 counties hardest hit by Hurricane Helene, and falls below 1% in Buncombe County, North Carolina, home to Asheville. Neptune estimated Helene alone caused between $20 billion and $30 billion in uninsured flood losses, mostly inland and largely away from areas clients typically associate with flood exposure.
For insurance brokers, the analysis frames the implication as a growing underinsurance problem in non-coastal markets, where flood exposure may be underestimated. It also ties the risk to the National Flood Insurance Program, which has paid US$36.7 billion on more than 586,000 claims over the decade to 2025, accounting for 40% of all claims paid in the program's history.
Neptune further notes the NFIP is supported by borrowing from the U.S. Treasury and currently owes $22.525 billion against a $30.425 billion borrowing cap, leaving about $7.9 billion of headroom. The NFIP's authority to write new policies and borrow at that level expires on September 30, 2026 unless Congress reauthorizes it, putting renewed coverage timing near the deadline on brokers' radar, according to the analysis described by Insurance Business.