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Tornadoes and floods taking lives and destroying homes throughout the country could raise the price Floridians pay for property insurance. The multibillion dollar price tag is taking a toll on nationwide reinsurance companies. Those companies could pass the pain on to Florida insurers, who, as Whitney Ray tells us, could pass the cost on to you.

This isn’t hurricane damage. This isn’t even Florida. But the tornadoes that ripped through Alabama a month ago could raise the price you pay for insurance.

So might the tornado that hit Massachusetts Wednesday and the record flooding in South Dakota.

Tonya Toole has been watching the destruction from her Florida beach home.

“We had heard we may have more serious major hurricanes here in Florida this season,” said Tonya.

Tonya chose to retire on the beach. She loves the scenery. Thursday she painted a tropical bird to hang in her home. But life’s not always a beach on the coast. Tonya, pays more for insurance because of hurricane threats.

“I take the responsibility of being in a high risk area,” said Tonya.

But just days into hurricane season, the biggest threat to her insurance premium isn’t a tropical storm. It’s disasters in other parts of the country. Those storms will make it more expensive for Florida insurers to buy reinsurance.

Across the table in Tonya’s art class, the idea of paying more is understood, but not welcomed.

“Every year it seems like it goes up,” said Ruth Draper who lives in Tallahassee.

The cost of reinsurance can’t be immediately passed on to customers because the state must first sign off on any major rate hikes. But now insurance companies can get the state’s approval quicker. Legislation passed this session speeds up the rate approval process from 90 days to 45.

Floridians paying more may just be one way of returning the favor. After the multi-billion dollar storms of 2004 and 2005, other states helped foot the bill.

While large rate hikes due to reinsurance costs require state approval, insurance companies can raise your payment 15 percent or less with no approval.