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Farmers Insurance cancels more than 1,000 homeowners policies in Oklahoma due to wildfire risks
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Farmers Insurance cancels more than 1,000 homeowners policies in Oklahoma due to wildfire risks

Okla. (KXII) – In November, Farmers Insurance will cancel the home insurance of approximately 1,300 homeowners in eastern Oklahoma.

“Farmers not only in Oklahoma, but nationwide, are taking steps to reduce their specific risk from wildfires,” said Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready.

It’s unclear how many of these homes are in Texoma, but Mulready said there are plenty of options for homeowners who lose their coverage.

“We have a lot of competition,” he said. “We currently have 113 insurance companies that have active homeowners policies in Oklahoma.”

Farmers’ move is the latest in a long line of insurance companies in the United States to drop coverage in states including Florida, California and Texas over concerns about climate change and natural disasters.

Oklahoma is experiencing extreme weather this year.

“We’ve had 103 tornadoes this past year, two EF-4 tornadoes,” Mulready said. “It’s the first time since 2011 that we’ve had two EF-4 tornadoes in one year.”

Both homeowners and insurers are feeling the effects.

“What did you pay out in claims?” Mulready said. “Our top 20 homeowners’ companies, that number was 105 percent. For every $100 they took in, they paid out $105 in claims.”

However, Mulready said there is a difference between the states losing the most coverage and Oklahoma.

“They had areas in their state where no insurance company would write a homeowners policy,” he said. “We don’t have that in Oklahoma.”

Even though it’s becoming increasingly difficult to be profitable, he says local homeowners won’t have any trouble finding insurance for the time being.

“We do have an affordability problem, I agree,” Mulready said. “We’re all struggling with it, but we don’t have an availability problem.”