In states experiencing natural disasters, home insurance options are shrinking

So far this year, wildfires in California have burned more than a million acres of land. That's larger than the entire state of Rhode Island.

Natural disasters like these are causing insurance companies to abandon coverage in some areas entirely, not just in California but also in states like Texas, Florida, Oregon and Colorado.

“Our premiums have more than doubled, but our coverage has been halved. So this was the perfect storm of disaster,” said Steve Archer, president of the HOA for his community in La Cañada Flintridge, California.

A community in La Cañada Flintridge, California. (Sunny Tsai/Fox News)

Archer says people in his community tried to protect the area from disaster.

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“We have new roofs on every one of our buildings here. We have carried out extensive tree trimming work. We inspected each chimney…to install spark registers. “We have installed seismic shut-off valves that will trip in the event of an earthquake to stop the flow of gas,” Archer said.

A seismic shut-off valve designed to stop the flow of gas in the event of an earthquake. (Sunny Tsai/Fox News)

Farmers Insurance has been covering the community for two decades. But in July the company announced its resignation. This left the community scrambling for coverage.

“After an extensive search, we landed on a California Fair Plan, which is kind of the last resort for people who can't get insurance elsewhere… So our premiums went from 70,000 to 170,000. Our coverage was $45 million – liability insurance and wildfire insurance for our homeowners association, common area and buildings. And … the fair plan calls for a maximum coverage of 20 million,” Archer said.

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This means less insurance coverage for more money.

“We've seen some people's homeowners insurance go from $2,000 to $6,000 a year, others to eight. And these are not big houses. That’s kind of normal,” said Rick Dinger, president of Crescenta Valley Insurance.

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Of the state's 12 largest insurance companies, only five are writing new policies. A local insurance company blames California regulations.

The mountains seen from a community in La Cañada Flintridge (Sunny Tsai/Fox News)

“Right now there are a lot of regulations for an insurance carrier. If they want to increase the tariffs, they submit the tariffs. With the Department of Insurance, it can take three years. Well, these tariffs are worthless. But you “You know, they’re outdated. And often the insurance commissioner would come back and not give them the rate they needed,” Dinger said.

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Looking forward, the National Interagency Fire Center predicts above-average risk for parts of Southern California and Texas in November.