As always, hurricane season officially begins June 1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts an “average” hurricane season this year—meaning “a likely range of 9 to 15 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher), of which 4 to 8 could become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher), including 2 to 4 major hurricanes (category 3, 4 or 5; with winds of 111 mph or higher).” By comparison, NOAA predicted that 2018, which produced Hurricane Michael, the first Category 5 hurricane to come ashore in the continental U.S. since 1992, would be “near or above-normal.” And 2017 produced Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate.

One might reasonably suppose that these storms and the amounts spent on disaster relief (irrespective of political issues) and flood insurance claims would prompt a push toward structural changes to insurance for catastrophes of this kind. Unfortunately, one would be wrong.