October Disaster Loss at $1.08B: Allstate

Allstate Corp. expects to report October disaster losses of $1.08 billion, mostly due to superstorm Sandy, the home and auto insurer said on Wednesday.

Allstate, the largest publicly traded home and auto insurer in the country, said its gross losses were $1.28 billion but that it expected to recover about $200 million in reinsurance.

Two-thirds of the losses are in New York state, the insurer said, while 20 percent are in New Jersey and the rest are elsewhere. Allstate said it had already paid $340 million in claims as of last Monday.

Sandy is expected to be the second-costliest disaster in U.S. history, behind only Hurricane Katrina. Industry experts estimate insured losses of as much as $25 billion, excluding any claims paid by the federal flood insurance program.

Allstate’s Sandy losses are not as severe, though, as the $1.4 billion hit the company took from tornadoes in April 2011.