A white couple in the Great Kills section of Staten Island contacted WABC Channel 7 last week to complain about Allstate insurance canceling their home insurance because weather experts say a major hurricane could hit the New York area – but when?

The areas largest home insurer has announced that they would not renew policies for 28,000 homes in the five boroughs, including the counties of Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester.

A weather forecasting group predicts a busier than normal hurricane season – from May 15 to November 30 – with a major storm hitting the Northeast.

“There are indications that the Northeast will experience a hurricane larger and more powerful than anything that region has seen in a long time,” Kenneth Reeves, senior meteorologist and director of forecast operations of AccuWeather.com, told the Associated Press.

AccuWeather meteorologists say that current weather cycles and water temperatures make it a question of when, not if. They also say that damage in the Northeast, as a result of a hurricane, could surpass that caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Forecasters say five major storms, of Category 3 or higher, in the 2006 Atlantic season are expected, with an 81 percent chance of hitting the United States. This is compared to the 100-year average of 52 percent.

Risk Management Solutions Inc., a catastrophe modeler, estimated in March that insurance losses this year could rise nearly 50 percent. Risk Management Solutions blamed “higher sea surface temperatures.”

Analysts say that seven of the 12 costliest insured disasters in U.S. history occurred in the past two years. According to the Insurance Services Office, the costs placed at $57.7 billion for private insured losses and in 2005 were more than double those in 2004.

The Insurance Information Institute says that it is all about wind damage and insurance companies have to be responsible and look at risks.

Insurance companies are allowed by law to cancel up to four percent of the policies in the metropolitan area. According to sources, one other insurer, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MET), has declined taking new business in the eight so-called hurricane counties, which encompass the five boroughs, Nassau, Westchester and Suffolk.

“It’s not right – and it’s not fair – and it’s time New York gets tough on regulating these out of control insurers,” said N.Y. State Senator Jeff Klein (D-Bronx/Westchester), in a press release.

Klein has introduced what he calls “sweeping” insurance reform legislation designed to protect consumers and ensure stability in the insurance market. The Bronx lawmakers’ legislation would slash by 50 percent the number of policies any insurer can drop in one year – from 4 to 2 percent.

His proposal would also require the New York State Insurance Department to mandate insurers to demonstrate potential risks or losses before canceling or not-renewing homeowner’s policies, and direct the department to conduct a study on the “profitability of the property to casualty insurance industry, specifically reviewing the reasons and rate at which they increase their premiums or terminate coverage in markets impacted by natural disasters.”

“It’s a David versus Goliath situation,” said Jason Heap, spokesman for N.Y. Senator Jeff Klein. “Allstate tells us they know it’s bad what they are doing, but there is nothing they can do – and they say they aren’t doing anything illegal,” adding that as the law stands, it provides insurance companies with a lot of latitude.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz has been attempting to get a response from Allstate concerning the dropping of low-income and ethnic homeowners, but they haven’t responded, according to his spokesman, Brian Vines.

“Brooklyn consumers are running scared,” Vines admitted. “This is out of control.”

Vines added that Allstate has targeted Canarsie and Coney Island homeowners in Brooklyn.

An Allstate spokeswoman said that it wasn’t an easy decision. “But we believe this is the right decision,” she said.

Robert E. Litan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute who is working with state regulators in California, Florida, Illinois and New York on a plan to reshape catastrophe insurance, said there is a potential market failure at work here.

“If we have another hurricane season this year like we had last year, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a stampede of insurers trying to get out.”