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Floridas home insurer of last resort is in serious trouble. Will Milton put it over the edge? | Money [Video]

New York (CNN) — An exodus of national insurance companies from Florida, combined with local private insurers canceling plans, has left many homeowners there with only one option: Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

The state-backed nonprofit home insurance company was set up to be an insurer of last resort for those who can’t find coverage in the private market. With 1.3 million policies in force as of last month, three times as many compared to five years ago, Citizens is by far the largest provider in the state.

But now, with Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton both making landfall and devastating homes in Florida within just days of each other, the insurer will almost certainly have to pay out billions of dollars in claims.

Can Citizens stay afloat?

The answer lies in the insurer’s structure – which might be reassuring to policyholders, even if it ultimately leads to higher premiums.

Staying solvent

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned earlier this year that …

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Some aviation experts say Russia's air defense fire likely caused Azerbaijan plane crash [Video]

Azerbaijan on Thursday observed a nationwide day of mourning for the victims of the plane crash that killed 38 people and left all 29 survivors injured as speculation mounted about a possible cause of the disaster, with some experts saying that the airliner was damaged by Russian air defense fire.Azerbaijan Airlines' Embraer 190 was en route from Azerbaijan's capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus on Wednesday when it was diverted for reasons yet unclear and crashed while making an attempt to land in Aktau in Kazakhstan after flying east across the Caspian Sea.The plane went down about 3 kilometers (around 2 miles) from Aktau. Cellphone footage circulating online appeared to show the aircraft making a steep descent before smashing into the ground in a fireball. Other footage showed part of its fuselage ripped away from the wings and the rest of the aircraft lying upside down in the grass.As the official crash investigation started, theories abounded about a possible cause, with some experts alleging that holes seen in the planes tail section possibly indicate that it could have come under fire from Russian air defense systems fending off a Ukrainian drone attack.Ukrainian drones had previously attacked Grozny, the provincial capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, and other regions in the countrys North Caucasus. An official in Chechnya said another drone attack on the region was fended off on Wednesday, although federal authorities didn't report it.On Thursday, national flags were lowered across Azerbaijan, traffic across the country stopped at noon, and signals sounded from ships and trains as the country observed a nationwide moment of silence.Speaking at a news conference Wednesday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that it was too soon to speculate on the reasons behind the crash, but said that the weather had forced the plane to change from its planned course.The information provided to me is that the plane changed its course between Baku and Grozny due to worsening weather conditions and headed to Aktau airport, where it crashed upon landing, he said.Russias civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said that preliminary information indicated that the pilots diverted to Aktau after a bird strike led to an emergency on board.According to Kazakh officials, those aboard the plane included 42 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russian nationals, six Kazakhs and three Kyrgyzstan nationals. Russia's Emergencies Ministry on Thursday flew nine Russian survivors to Moscow for treatment.Mark Zee of OPSGroup, which monitors the worlds airspace and airports for risks, said that the analysis of the images of fragments of the crashed plane indicate that it was almost certainly hit by a surface-to-air missile, or SAM.Much more to investigate, but at high level we'd put the probability of it being a SAM attack on the aircraft at being well into the 90-99% bracket, he said.Osprey Flight Solutions, an aviation security firm based in the United Kingdom, warned its clients that the Azerbaijan Airlines flight was likely shot down by a Russian military air-defense system. Osprey provides analysis for carriers still flying into Russia after Western airlines halted their flights during the war.Osprey CEO Andrew Nicholson said that the company had issued more than 200 alerts regarding drone attacks and air defense systems in Russia during the war.This incident is a stark reminder of why we do what we do, Nicholson wrote online. It is painful to know that despite our efforts, lives were lost in a way that could have been avoided.Caliber, an Azerbaijani news website, claimed that the airliner was fired upon by a Russian Pantsyr-S air defense system as it was approaching Grozny. It questioned why Russian authorities failed to close the airport despite the apparent drone raid in the area. Khamzat Kadyrov, head of Chechnya's Security Council, said that air defenses downed drones attacking the region on Wednesday.Caliber also asked why Russian authorities didn't allow the plane to make an emergency landing in Grozny or other Russian airports nearby after it was hit.Asked about the claims that the plane had been fired upon by air defense assets, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that it would be wrong to make hypotheses before investigators make their verdict.Kazakhstans parliamentary Speaker Maulen Ashimbayev also warned against rushing to conclusions based on pictures of the planes fragments, describing the allegations of air defense fire as unfounded and unethical.Other officials in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have similarly avoided comment on a possible cause of the crash, saying it will be up to investigators to determine it.___Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Aida Sultanova in London, contributed to this report.