Lots and lots of insurers have been refusing to renew/cancel policies over the last 18 months throughout California. Many of these homes that we are seeing be destroyed are not insured. Much of this is tied back to Prop 103 from the late 80s, which limits the % rate increase annually to 7% (since 1988 mind you) there is just no one willing to cover them. Lots of this is tied back to Prop 103 from the late 80s which limits rate increases to at the time prevent unjust increases in insurance premiums (at the time it was more focused on auto and classic casualty/business coverage).
Enter massively escalating home prices in California and the increased risk portfolio due to drought and population density and it was either put themselves at risk or pull out of the market completely. If the year-to-year property value has increased on a policy consistently over 7% and there is a large enough density of policyholders in the region,if you are the insurer, what do you do? The only real option, much like what happened in FL and the gulf coasts, is to start no longing covering these places. It sucks for thousands of people that are facing a complete loss of their homes with no insurance coverage, but on the flip side, as a business, they have to run the math and once that math tells them no, its time to pull out.