LOSSES FROM 4 FLA. HURRICANES WILL EXCEED ANDREW’S RECORD:

Insurance claim payments to victims of the four Florida hurricanes to date will exceed $22 billion, surpassing the insurance payout from Hurricane Andrew, the costliest natural disaster in history, according to the Insurance Information Institute. Only the $32 billion in insured losses from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks exceed the estimated claim payments from this year’s Florida hurricanes. Claims from Hurricane Andrew in 1992 totaled $15.5 billion, or $20 billion in today’s dollars, the III said. Claim payments from the four storms are estimated at between $22 billion to $23 billion. Insurance Services Office Inc.’s Property Claim Services has estimated insured losses from Hurricane Charley at $6.8 billion and Hurricane Frances at $4.4 billion. Preliminary estimates from modeling firms project insured losses from Hurricanes Ivan and Jeanne in the $4 billion to $7 billion range each. This means that four of the top 10 most costly hurricanes in U.S. history have occurred in Florida this year within a span of just six weeks. The III stressed that the unprecedented quartet of hurricanes will make the claims handling process in Florida more difficult.