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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.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Florida Profit Loss Hurricane