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CNN
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As Florida braces for another major hurricane, new estimates show Hurricane Helene caused up to $47.5 billion in damages to property owners.

Helene, a deadly Category 4 hurricane that made landfall on September 26, caused “widespread and devastating” flooding in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, according to data analytics firm CoreLogic.

And yet many residents in Helene’s Way had no flood insurance. CoreLogic estimates that Helene caused between $20 billion and $30 billion in uninsured flood losses.

That dwarfs the company’s estimate of in-between Uninsured wind and flood losses worth $10.5 billion and $17.5 billion, respectively.

“A significant portion of the losses from this hurricane will likely remain uninsured, leaving the individual property owner responsible for the cost of repairs,” CoreLogic wrote in an update Friday.

Overall, CoreLogic calculated that Hurricane Helene caused $30.5 billion to $47.5 billion in total wind and flood damage across 16 states. The company said it does not plan to issue another update unless new developments warrant it.

The latest cost figures come as Hurricane Milton barreled toward Florida, growing from a tropical storm to a dangerous Category 4 hurricane in less than 20 hours.

Milton threatens to cause additional damage to the region and also highlights the lack of flood insurance in areas that remain at tremendous risk of flooding.

Heavy rain in Helene caused massive devastation and left entire communities in western North Carolina in ruins. The death toll from Helene has risen to at least 232 people in six states, making it the second deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland in the past 50 years.

In Florida, the hurricane caused historic tide levels in the Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg areas, where many hotels and condominiums are located.

Even though the storms are becoming more intense due to the record warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, conventional home insurance policies generally do not provide protection against flooding.

To insure against flooding, homeowners often must purchase this protection separately, typically from the National Flood Insurance Program, which is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Homeowners are not required to carry flood insurance unless they have a federally backed mortgage and the home is within a 100-year flood zone known as a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA).

“Lenders do not require homes without a mortgage or non-SFHA homes to have flood insurance,” CoreLogic said.

The vast majority of damage from Hurricane Helene was due to flooding, with wind only causing $4.5 billion to $6.5 billion in losses, according to CoreLogic. Most of Florida’s wind damage occurred in Perry, a small town of just 7,000 residents.