FLOIR's final data: 34.8% of Milton claims and 32.3% of Helene claims closed without payment, and below deductible, not flood, was the top reason. We collected the letters.
The final numbers are in, and they are worse than the early reporting. Per FLOIR’s catastrophe data, Hurricane Milton: 385,146 residential claims, 134,177 closed without payment, 34.8%. Hurricane Helene: 155,182 claims, 32.3% closed without payment. Combined, roughly one in three of the 540,000 claims Florida homeowners filed after the 2024 storms ended with a $0 closure.
The top reason is not what you heard
Early coverage blamed the flood exclusion. FLOIR’s own breakdowns say otherwise: the single largest closed-without-payment reason for both storms was below deductible, 38.5% of Milton’s closures and 30.4% of Helene’s. Flood exclusion accounted for 20.1% of Helene’s closures and just 4.5% of Milton’s.
That distinction matters because a below-deductible closure is not a coverage denial. It is the carrier’s opinion that your damage costs less than your hurricane deductible, and it is only as good as the scope behind it. Percentage deductibles run 2% to 10% of your dwelling limit, so a $400,000 policy needs $8,000 to $20,000 of scoped damage before the first dollar; an estimate that stops at shingles stays under that line by construction. FLOIR’s category “closed without payment” also sweeps in withdrawn claims and paperwork closures, which is why regulators themselves say it is not a denial rate. The letters, though, all read the same to the homeowner holding one: no payment.
We collected the documents
This is what the denial documents are for: 68 public documents in which a carrier’s denial language appears, every passage checked against the source before it publishes.
- The Citizens Milton closure, the letter quoted in local reporting: “no payment will be made regarding this claim.”
- The Liberty Mutual Milton partial denial, the complete letter free in a federal court record: wear and tear plus below deductible in one document.
- The $173,710 loss package answered with below-deductible, from a public DFS filing.
- The Helene surge denial whose own engineer report said the opposite, quoted in a ProPublica investigation.
Each entry says which kind of document it is, and links to the guide that answers its argument and to the legality test: Florida requires the decision to arrive within 60 days and to state the policy basis in writing.
What a $0 closure is worth in 2026
Filing windows for the 2024 storms have closed, but a filed claim that closed without payment can still move: supplemental evidence reopened thousands of Ian claims, and the suit windows run to Sept. 26, 2029 (Helene) and Oct. 9, 2029 (Milton). Start with the letter itself, then the claim timelines, then a free case review if the numbers do not add up.
Not legal advice; confirm your dates and statutes with a licensed attorney. Sources: FLOIR Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene catastrophe reporting (2025 data); public records linked per letter.
General information, not legal advice, laws and policies vary and change. Confirm current statutes and your own dates with a licensed attorney before acting.