More than 60 mostly independent and often thinly capitalized property insurers are offering policies to 6.2 million homeowners in Florida, a state largely abandoned by major carriers after it was battered by hurricanes in successive years early in the century.

One-by-one, those independent insurers are seeking eye-popping rate increases in hearings before the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR), citing skyrocketing reinsurance costs, loss creep from 2017 and 2018 hurricanes, coastal flooding and excessive litigation in requesting across-the-board property insurance rate hikes.