GREENSBORO -- As the Atlantic Ocean continues to turn into a hurricane highway heading straight for the East Coast, many insurance professionals are taking a hard look at the state of homeowners insurance. They say it could mean problems for homeowners across North Carolina.

When a hurricanes hits, most homeowners inland think they have dodged a bullet, but some insurance agents say that may not be the case.

"Should there be a major storm and there be a $20 [billion] or $30 billion claim against insurance policies, where Katrina produced a $50 [billion] to $60 billion claim on the Gulf Coast three years ago, that would completely overwhelm the funds that are available,” Tim Ward, executive vice president at Senn Dunn Insurance, explained.

But State Insurance Commissioner Jim Long says there are plenty of funds available.

“When that's used up, then they go and assess the insurance companies for another $600 million and when they reach a $1 billion in losses, then reinsurance kicks in, which is buying insurance on the insurance, so you are probably talking about $2 billion of insurance coverage out there on the coast,” Long said.

Ward says the problem is not the money on hand but the amount of property that's being insured.

“Between the assets they have on hand and the reinsurance they have purchased has somewhere in the neighborhood of a $1.5 billion of coverage, but it is to insure something in the neighborhood of $75 billion worth of property,” Ward said.

So what does this mean for the average homeowner? Ward says if the system is financially overwhelmed, insurance companies will have to pay the claims, and to fund those claims, insurance companies would most likely increase premiums for policyholders across the state.

“You could easily see premiums increase from $500 or $600 to $2,000 or $3,000 a year to repay those losses,” Ward said.

Officials said they are taking steps to fix the problem though.

"I approved a rate increase for the beach area and also that first tier of counties inland, the cities like Morehead City,” Long said, “and places like that with a 25 percent increase on the rates.

"The insurance industry asked for 125-percent increase on the rates and we negotiated it down to a plus-25 [percent.]"

Long said a study commission is underway to look at this situation but he pointed out that it's a complex issue that can't be dealt with easily. That's something Ward agrees with.