Quick Summary: APCIA Warns of Growing Flood Risks Amid Insurance Coverage Gaps
- FM found that 44% of risk decision-makers said premiums are too high to secure full insurance coverage, leaving companies exposed.
- Insurance Business reported that 53% of business owners see flooding as a top threat, but only 30% have flood insurance.
- FM found 95% of decision-makers are aware of their exposure, but only 67% of brokers agree, showing a gap in understanding.
- Karen Collins of APCIA highlighted that severe flooding can occur anywhere, often without warning.
- Some CFOs are open to spending more on insurance if it means better coverage and risk transfer.
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In the world of insurance, brokers stand at a crucial crossroads. The challenge is not just selling more policies, but bridging the severe weather financial preparedness gap that leaves many businesses vulnerable. Despite the rising awareness of risks like flooding, a staggering number of companies remain underinsured, a gap that brokers must urgently address.
FM’s report reveals that 44% of risk decision-makers find premiums too high for full coverage, leaving them exposed to potential disasters. This financial hesitancy is compounded by a knowledge gap; while 95% claim awareness of their risks, only 67% of brokers agree, highlighting a disconnect in understanding and action.
The situation is dire, especially with the looming threat of severe weather events. Karen Collins from APCIA warns that flooding can strike unexpectedly, urging consumers to reassess their coverage. Yet, only 30% of business owners carry flood insurance, despite 53% identifying it as a major threat.
Interestingly, there is a shift in the mindset of some financial leaders. As Adam Balentine from Marsh McLennan Agency notes, CFOs are beginning to prioritize meaningful improvements in coverage over mere cost-cutting. This change presents an opportunity for brokers to advocate for better protection and resilience.
The urgency is clear: brokers need to capitalize on this moment, using current market conditions to push for comprehensive coverage. With the 30-day waiting period for flood policies, time is of the essence. The question remains whether businesses will seize this opportunity to close their coverage gaps or continue prioritizing short-term savings over long-term security.
FM found that 44% of risk decision-makers said premiums are too high to secure full insurance coverage, which helps explain why companies keep leaving themselves exposed even after repeated disruption. Insurance Business reported that 53% of business owners now identify flooding as a top weather-related threat, sharply up from 35% in 2025, but only 30% actually carry flood insurance.
FM found that 95% of risk decision-makers said they were mostly or fully aware of their exposure, but only 67% of brokers agreed, and an informal comparison with FM’s Resilience Index showed 74% underestimated wind and flood exposure where their most critical operations were located. The most striking gap is not awareness alone but execution: only 23% of companies said they had fully selected and installed equipment based on extreme-weather resilience, even though brokers ranked that as one of the most effective protective steps.
Karen Collins, APCIA’s vice president for property and environmental, said, “Recent years have shown that severe flooding can happen almost anywhere, often with little warning. Yet those same buyers expect insurance to cover only about half of those losses, and brokers were even more pessimistic, estimating coverage closer to 40%.
“Most strategic CFOs are actually comfortable with a budget-neutral approach, or even spending slightly more year over year, if they see meaningful improvements in coverage and risk transfer,” he said. ” The article says private insurers wrote about $750 million in commercial flood premiums in 2024 and now account for roughly 27% of the total flood market by direct premiums written, up from about 13% a decade ago.
” The practical twist is that NFIP policies typically carry a 30-day waiting period, so brokers who wait for storms to arrive may already be too late to fix the problem. That is the revealing twist: the preparedness gap is partly a knowledge gap, but the reporting suggests it is even more a false-confidence gap, where clients think they understand the risk and still misprice or misbuy protection.
Insurance Business reported that 53% of business owners see flooding as a top threat, but only 30% have flood insurance. FM found that 44% of risk decision-makers said premiums are too high to secure full insurance coverage, which helps explain why companies keep leaving themselves exposed even after repeated disruption.
Insurance Business reported that 53% of business owners now identify flooding as a top weather-related threat, sharply up from 35% in 2025, but only 30% actually carry flood insurance. Quick Summary: How brokers can help clients close the severe weather financial preparedness gap – Insurance Business FM found that 44% of risk decision-makers said premiums are too high to secure full insurance coverage, leaving companies exposed.
FM’s report reveals that 44% of risk decision-makers find premiums too high for full coverage, leaving them exposed to potential disasters. Yet, only 30% of business owners carry flood insurance, despite 53% identifying it as a major threat.
Karen Collins, APCIA’s vice president for property and environmental, said, “Recent years have shown that severe flooding can happen almost anywhere, often with little warning. This financial hesitancy is compounded by a knowledge gap; while 95% claim awareness of their risks, only 67% of brokers agree, highlighting a disconnect in understanding and action.
The scale and speed of this development has caught many observers off guard. Each new update adds another dimension to a story that is still unfolding, and the full picture will only become clear as more verified details emerge from the people and institutions directly involved.
Analysts who have tracked this issue closely say the current moment represents a genuine turning point. The decisions made in the coming weeks are expected to set the direction for months ahead, with ripple effects likely to extend well beyond the immediate actors in the story.
For those directly affected, the practical impact is already visible. People navigating this fast-changing situation are dealing with real consequences while new information continues to reshape what is known and what remains open to interpretation.
Historical parallels offer some context, though experts caution against drawing too close a comparison. Similar situations have played out before, but the specific combination of pressures, personalities, and timing here makes this moment distinct in ways that matter for how it ultimately resolves.
The political and economic dimensions of this story are deeply intertwined. What appears as a single event on the surface is in practice the convergence of multiple pressures that have been building quietly over a longer period than most public reporting has captured.