Reinsurers - the quiet backstop of the entire property system - were pulling back, year by year, loss by loss, recalibrating what counted as acceptable risk . Property prices followed. Then credit. Then local tax bases. Abandonment and relocation for many was no longer a choice of last resort. It was a balance-sheet consequence. The climate hadn’t been destroying the economy. It had been underwriting it. And now the cheque was bouncing.