A major hurricane hitting one of the big cities in the United States could easily cost more than $100 billion in insured losses, according to a new report from Karen Clark and Co.

KCC said America has been lucky over the past 25 years, with only 16 major hurricanes making landfall.

“None of these storms made landfall directly within a major metropolitan area such as Miami or Houston,” the report stated. “The northeast US has not experienced a major hurricane for decades.”

Researchers said that if the 1926 Great Miami Hurricane had happened today, it would have resulted in more than $200 billion in insured losses.

The Category 4 storm killed 17 people in Florida, destroyed many buildings and is said to have given an early start to the Great Depression in the Sunshine State.

KCC said that after 1960, there was only one event that would result in more than $100 billion in losses today: Hurricane Andrew.

“Annual hurricane losses tend to be dominated by one major storm,” the report stated. “When viewed with current exposure, only the 2005 season — with five landfalling hurricanes — includes multiple landfalling hurricanes aggregating to more than $100 billion in losses.”

The report said hurricanes are like real estate, meaning location is key, particularly when it comes to property damage and insured losses.

“While insured losses are highly dependent on location, losses are not strongly correlated with storm frequency,” the report revealed. “For example, 2020 was a very active year with six US landfalling hurricanes, but annual insured hurricane losses were about average.”

Above-average years tend to be dominated by individual large-loss events, such as Hurricane Andrew in 1992 or Hurricane Ian in 2022.