system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How do insurance companies survive disasters like the hurricanes in Florida?

The amount of damage must be in the 10/100's of millions, do they just have that cash ready in the bank?
gpt
They do maintain fairly large liquid holdings vs. corporations of similar sizes in other sectors (although not by comparison to a lot of tech companies like Apple, interestingly enough)

More importantly they also spread their risk through re-insurers (insurance for insurance companies) such that they are only on the hook for a small percentage of the total claims.  Both insurers and reinsurers are also pretty careful about how much total exposure they allow themselves to any particular area (like Florida) and have done a lot of analysis of the risks (like hurricanes) so that they have a pretty accurate estimate of how much liquid cash they need to keep. Their risk models take into account much more in the way of global warming risks than do, say, the US government's. Plus they often manage immediate cash flow by delaying payment for lower-tier premiums etc. 

This doesn't always work, but after hundreds of years of insuring people they generally know what formulas will keep them afloat. As a last resort they can often go raise debt or equity from the public and private markets, although doing so when you're "under water" (pun intended) can result in shareholders taking a bath...