Early Irene Damage Estimates: Insured Losses of $1.5B-$3B

By James J. Green

August 29, 2011 at 04:41 AM

Share & Print

Following is an excerpt of a news article written by Bryant Rousseau, group editorial director of AdvisorOne's sister publication, PropertyCasualty360.

While the worst-case scenarios surrounding property and casualty losses from Hurricane Irene were avoided, early estimates still have Irene causing up to $3 billion in insured losses, with total losses reaches reaching up to $7 billion.

Eqecat is estimating insured losses in a range from $1.5 billion to $3 billion, with $200-$400 million of that coming from damages in the Carolinas.

Kinetic Analysis Corp. has put out an insured-loss estimate of $2.6 billion (far below the $14 billion in possible losses the company was warning of on Thursday, before Irene made landfall in the U.S.).

U.S. stock markets opened at their normal times on Monday, with investors expected to remain focused on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's statement Friday at the Jackson Hole economic summit. The markets moved higher in morning trading, continuing where it left off on Friday.

Read the entire article here, and look for additional coverage of Irene's impact from PropertyCasualty360.com and AdvisorOne.