Disasters Unlimited

Insurance companies see a potential Katrina almost everywhere they
look. And they want homeowners to pay in advance.

Since 1851, when meteorologists began keeping reliable records,
Delaware has been bothered by a hurricane only twice. Neither incident
was a direct hit. The Gale of '78--that's 1878--whizzed by to the west
through Maryland. A quarter-century later, the so-called Vagabond
Hurricane of 1903 skirted off to the east, staying in the Atlantic
long enough to strike New Jersey. Although both storms sank ships in
Delaware Bay and caused structural damage and flooding in Wilmington,
neither packed winds much worse than 80 miles per hour. That's an
autumn breeze compared with Hurricane Katrina, which maxed out at 175
m.p.h. and blew ashore at around 125.

So it might surprise you to learn that Delaware is experiencing some
problems with hurricane insurance. They started quietly last summer
after Westfield Insurance Co. said it wouldn't renew 850 customers
near the coast when their policies expired. Then, in December,
Allstate deemed all of Delaware a "potentially catastrophe-prone
market." Allstate is keeping its existing customers in the state, but
as of January 1, the company has stopped writing new policies anywhere
in Delaware--even well inland.