Transforming Risk into Resilience

When it comes to extreme weather, 2025 will go down in the history books.

Wind-fueled wildfires tore through drought-stricken Los Angeles neighborhoods, reducing once-palatial homes to rubble and leaving a path of destruction that will take years to rebuild. In Texas, severe storms and flooding ravaged vulnerable communities that didn’t have the time—or resources—to prepare. The East Coast didn’t fare much better: Record cold left parts of the Northeast digging out of snow and ice, with other coastal and inland areas still reeling from high impact storms of years before. 

In the U.S., the frequency of billion dollar  catastrophic weather events has increased from every 74 days in 1990 to every 11 days in 2024. In California alone, approximately 22,500 homes were destroyed in wildfires between 2017 and 2020, and now six years later, only 38% of those homes have been rebuilt. These disasters have turned a spotlight on community and homeowner vulnerabilities, especially in areas compounded by the rising cost and limited accessibility of insurance.

However, some communities hit hardest by these disasters were dotted with pockets of resilience—homes and other properties left virtually untouched by fire, wind, or rain. These stark contrasts pose the question: How did these structures remain intact while so many around them did not?

A path forward

Resilience is commonly defined as the ability to bounce back after some type of hardship, but in insurance speak, the concept is broader and more forward-looking. Resilience is how homeowners can act in the present to protect themselves from the impact of future catastrophes.  

MMA colleagues Brad Sawyer and others on the Private Client Services team work primarily with high-net-worth individuals to identify complex risks and vulnerabilities associated with their properties and other assets. They create proactive plans that help homeowners implement strategies to minimize the impact of these threats, increase their access to insurance as many carriers decline to insure homes if the risk is too high, and lessen their dependence on insurance claims to recoup their losses during extreme weather events (although MMA is there to help in these instances as well). Essentially, they empower clients to move from a passive reliance on claims—which in some cases can take years—to a forward-thinking mindset that reduces underlying risks and can prevent damage from happening in the first place. 

“When you think about insurance, a lot of times it relates to catastrophic losses—in California wildfires, in anything east of the Rocky Mountains , severe convective storms, floods, tornadoes, and hail, then on the East Coast, generally hurricanes and tropical storms,” Sawyer says.

“For most people, the largest asset they own is their home,” he explains. “We try to help encourage clients to take that asset and make it more resilient to the elements, the objective being reducing their chances of experiencing a loss. Some of it does take time and money, but long-term it’s going to help with insurability.”

Sawyer recalls working with one client, who in the beginning was thought to be uninsurable because of the wildfire-prone area on the outskirts of Los Angeles in which they lived. They shopped the insurance market for two long years with no luck. Sawyer and the MMA team advised the homeowner on renovations that could be made to make the home less risky for insurers, like removing flammable landscaping adjacent to the home's exterior and installing ember-resistant vents.

Their hard work paid off and a carrier offered them a policy—and not a moment too soon.

“The house backed up to Temescal Canyon, which was one of the earliest spots burned in the Palisades wildfires,” Saw yer explains. “But this home survived, as did the neighbors on either side of them. The embers jumped their homes and took out all the other houses across the street that hadn’t been properly mitigated.”

The client’s home sustained only minimal smoke damage, and MMA was able to help with that claim.

“This stuff really does work, and it makes a big difference,” says Sawyer.

Because of their expertise when it comes to resilience, Sawyer and Pete Walther, president and CEO, MMA Private Client Services, were tapped to share their experiences in the PBS Weathered special After the LA Firestorm, a retrospective released one year after the fires in Los Angeles communities Palisades and Altadena. The documentary explores themes of recovery, resilience, and what communities can do to protect themselves in the future.

An advocate on your darkest day 

Insurance claims can be complex and time-consuming, and in many instances, the stakes are incredibly high. When disaster strikes, MMA PCS colleagues like Rachel Renaud, kick into high gear, working side-by-side with homeowners, from claim to payout, and beyond.

In today’s evolving risk landscape, a rinse and repeat approach can no longer be the norm. MMA listens to each client’s individual goals, such as the decision to rebuild or start over somewhere else. Claim advocates work closely with clients and their insurance carriers to ensure that communication is clear, payments are  received quickly, and all available policy coverages are maximized. 

Colleagues can also act as a liaison with risk consulting partners that can advise homeowners how to build back better and provide strategic insights that protect their long-term interests, says Renaud.

“For many of our clients who find their homes completely destroyed, the claim process can take multiple years. We are here to support and advocate for our clients from the start of a claim through full resolution, no matter how long it takes,” she says.

For example, the Private Client Services team shared a story of a Florida client whose custom home was damaged by not one, not two, but three consecutive hurricanes. The first—Hurricane Ian in 2022—caused more than $1 million in damage, but subsequent reconstruction delays meant the home remained unfinished when Hurricane Helene struck in September 2024, followed with Hurricane Milton a month later. The home was flooded, and the building materials on site for the repair were destroyed. The client’s primary insurer only offered a relatively small amount, but MMA worked with their excess flood carrier and field adjusters to get the building materials covered.

Record-level snow and ice led to water damage at a Utah client’s mountain home. His claim initially received partial denial, then MMA stepped in and appealed the ruling. An extensive review of engineering reports, contractor statements, and weather data proved that the interior damage stemmed from the storm weakening the home’s roofing panels. The insurance carrier ultimately agreed to cover the cost of a new roof. 

Having deep familiarity with clients’ coverage design is key for delivering client outcomes. So is developing trusted relationships with homeowners and their families.

“When you’ve experienced something that has not only caused damage to your home, but completely disrupted your entire community, it’s a jarring, life-altering experience. Many of our clients haven’t experienced a claim, let alone one resulting from such a level of devastation,” says Renaud. “We are able to learn about the client’s needs and priorities and work with their carriers and vendors to do everything possible to make a stressful situation more simplified. Clients are thankful to have someone in their corner walking them through the process in such an emotional and difficult time.”

Property protection peril 101

There are specific steps that homeowners can take to minimize the impact of severe weather events, so that when, not if, a crisis happens, they’ll be less reliant on the claims process to return to business as usual—and these steps may be less expensive than you might think. 

“Whatever the peril—rain, wind, fire—there are ways to make a house more resilient against it,” says Sawyer. “We help identify the risk, you do the mitigation, then it’s our job to get a carrier to offer an insurance policy based on the assessed risk. These resilience efforts help your insurability first and foremost, yet in turn, also offset the cost of potential repair.”

• In fire-prone areas, defensible space is key.  Remove combustible materials, like shrubbery, dead leaves, and mulch, from around the home and replace mulch and other flammable landscaping elements near the home with fireproof decor, like stone. This creates a buffer between the flammable elements and the structure.
• Drifting embers also pose a threat. Wind can carry an ember much farther and faster than the original fire can spread. Taking steps to harden your home can help prevent damage. Replace traditional roofing materials with fire-rated shingles made from asphalt, metal, slate, clay, or concrete, and keep the roof and gutters free from debris. Replace vents with ember-resistant ones or cover vents with 1/8-inch metal mesh.
• Gulf coast and east coast residents can have hurricane straps retrofitted to their roofs and shutters to protect their roofs and windows during a storm. And don’t forget about the garage door. They often fail in extreme winds. Reinforce the garage door with hurricane shutters—there’s a lightweight fabric solution called armor screen—or replace it with a wind or impact-rated garage door. Homes can often be lifted out of the flood zone by elevating the structure above the base flood elevation using hydraulic jacks, then constructing a new or extended foundation. The roof and walls can also be anchored to that foundation.
• Midwest-area residents need to be prepared for a range of extreme weather events—thunderstorms and winter storms, flooding, tornadoes, and extreme summer heat. Water damage is the most frequent claim for all insurance carriers. So, an automatic water shut off and a sump pump may be prudent investments, as can impact-resistant roofing.

For more resiliency tips, check out MMA’s on-demand Risk and Resiliency Symposium.