http://orlando.bizjournals.com/orlan...6/daily23.html
Hurricane Charley the third worst hurricane INSURANCE LOSS in U.S.
history

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflor...6/daily14.html
PCI: Charley not as devastating as Andrew

http://www.cincypost.com/2004/08/17/edita081704.html
Charley comes calling

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald...on/9419437.htm
Charley: Unpredictable, like all of its kind

http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/16/news...ley_insurance/
Losses mount from Charley

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http://orlando.bizjournals.com/orlan...6/daily23.html

Fitch: Hurricane Charley the third worst hurricane INSURANCE LOSS in
U.S. history

Fitch Ratings believes that even if the damage caused by Hurricane
Charley -- estimated as a $5 billion to $10 billion insurance loss --
comes in at the low end of the estimates, it will rank the storm as
the third largest insured U.S. hurricane loss in history.

Fitch has issued a special report titled Hurricane Charley:
Preliminary Analysis, which is available on the Fitch Ratings web site
on www.fitchratings.com.

Charley is not expected to trigger a loss to any of the catastrophe
bonds in the Fitch rating universe, but that will not be known for
certain until better loss estimates become available.

The insurers most likely to be affected by the storm are those writing
primary property insurance -- homeowners or commercial multi-peril --
in the state of Florida or those selling property catastrophe
reinsurance.

Many of the insurers with significant market share in the property
lines in Florida are geographically diversified in risk and have high
insurer financial strength ratings. However, there are insurers with a
geographical concentration of risk in Florida that could be materially
affected.

Charley came ashore Friday, Aug. 13 on the Gulf Coast of Florida just
south of Fort Myers as a Category 4 hurricane. The storm then crossed
the state of Florida over Orlando and headed back out into the
Atlantic Ocean before moving north to the Carolinas.

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http://www.bizjournals.com/southflor...6/daily14.html

PCI: Charley not as devastating as Andrew

The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI), the group
from which member companies write about one-third of Florida
homeowners insurance, said initial reports from claims adjusters
indicate damage from Hurricane Charley, while extensive, was less than
the state experienced when Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida in 1992.

The more than 1,000 PCI members also write more than half the state's
personal auto insurance and one-third of commercial insurance.

"Charley was a much different hurricane than we've been exposed to in
the past," said John Eager, PCI senior director of claims services.
"Hurricane Andrew hit a densely populated area and covered a wide
swath, while Hurricane Charley was much more compact and its trail of
destruction was much narrower."

While the wind damage is high, Eager said companies are seeing a much
smaller grouping of water damage claims which, he said, likely means
the individual losses will not be as high, on average, as they were
with Andrew in 1992.

"We also know that Charley hit the Gulf Coast hard, but then it
appeared to almost jump around and skip across the state, touching
down and doing heavier damage in some segments of its path than in
others - not staying in one area long enough to destroy everything in
its path," he said.

Eager also said PCI members are reporting lighter-than-anticipated
commercial losses, so far, but damage to the agriculture industry
could be significant.

Insurers reported their claims adjusters are already noticing
construction and design lessons learned from Andrew made an impact 12
years later, he said.

"Homes and buildings that implemented improvements in building
construction and roofing design weathered the storm much better than
older structures," Eager said. "Those who suffered damage to their
roofs should talk to their insurer about replacing damaged roofs with
newer wind-resistant shingles, and Florida homeowners who may be
considering a new roof should take a lesson from Charley and use the
new designs when selecting their next roof."

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http://www.cincypost.com/2004/08/17/edita081704.html

Charley comes calling

It may be small comfort to Florida's storm-battered communities, but
Hurricane Charley could have been much worse.

The storm could have come ashore at what seemed its original target,
the much more urban, densely populated and geographically vulnerable
Tampa Bay area.

Although hurricane forecasting is still as much art as science, there
was time for those who wished to evacuate to do so, although the
damage the 145-mph winds did to some emergency shelters suggests the
need for further precautionary planning.

After cutting a 25-mile swath across the state, Charley could have
turned northward and inland on the same devastating path as Hurricane
Isabel last fall. Instead, it steadily weakened as it churned
northward along the Atlantic coast.

Cruelly, the storm struck hardest at communities least able to
withstand the onslaught -- the mobile homes and trailers of retirees
and those of moderate means, those most likely to be underinsured or
uninsured.

As of this morning, the death toll stood at 19 and property damage at
$11 billion in insured losses and probably that much again in
uninsured losses. That's mercifully short of Florida's benchmark for
destruction -- Hurricane Andrew in 1992 killed 26 and inflicted $26
billion in total damage.

"The fact that we have not found any more dead than we have is nothing
short of a miracle," Guy Tunnell, the chief of the Florida Department
of Law Enforcement, told the Associated Press.

Miracle, perhaps. As is often observed, you can't prevent hurricanes,
only prepare for them. The most effective preparations are advance
warning and evacuation, both susceptible to continuous refinement and
improvement. Subsequent to Andrew, the state tightened building and
construction codes, and it will be instructive to find whether those
changes ameliorated the impact of Charley.

The response to Charley by federal and state agencies will test the
assertion made by some officials that U.S. emergency planning has
become too focused on terrorism at the expense of natural perils --
hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and wildfires.

The post-mortem will undoubtedly come up with new and useful
precautions, but disaster planning tends to come up against one
immutable fact: Americans will live where they want and are willing to
put up with substantial risk -- exposed coasts, unstable hillsides,
floodplains, tinder-dry forests -- to do so.

Charley may give us pause, but soon we will again be tempted by the
old sales come-on about buying waterfront property: "God isn't making
any more." Maybe not, but God does tend to rearrange it from time to
time.

Meanwhile, far out at sea Hurricane Danielle and Tropical Storm Earl
pick up strength as they await their turn in the alphabetical rotation
of hurricane season.

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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald...on/9419437.htm

Charley: Unpredictable, like all of its kind

OUR OPINION: KEY TO SURVIVAL: UNDERSTAND, HEED WARNINGS

In terms of impact, Hurricane Charley will have as much influence over
decisions Floridians make to protect themselves from future storms as
did Hurricane Andrew 12 years ago.

Charley's destruction, in dollar value, will take months to tally, but
it is already estimated to be between $5 billion and $11 billion in
insured property alone. Its toll on those with no insurance may be
incalculable, but we know that U.S. taxpayers will pay for some
assistance to help them rebuild their lives. The state's citrus
industry also took a hit; only time will reveal the depth of damage.

Charley was a painful wake-up call for Florida. It's sensible to
consider what we have learned from it.

• Hurricane watches and warnings are real. They must be understood and
heeded. If forecasters include your community in an official warning,
take all necessary precautions, even though your area may not be the
center of the storm's bull's-eye. Hurricanes are unpredictable.
Charley suddenly veered east, away from the expected landfall in
Tampa, catching many in Charlotte County less than prepared for the
worst.

• Andrew forced stronger building codes in coastal areas, but
Charley's diagonal march northeast through Florida is a reminder that
hurricanes can reach deep inland. Inland building rules on wind
resistance should be reexamined. And while Andrew brought stronger
construction materials and tie-down requirements for mobile homes,
more safeguards are needed.

• We're doing some things better. An evacuation of an estimated nearly
two million people seemed to go well. Help is arriving quickly to
stricken areas, and, as usual, Floridians are reaching out to their
neighbors, knowing that, there, but for a wobble or two of Charley, go
us.

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http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/16/news...ley_insurance/

Losses mount from Charley
Estimates of insured losses range from $5 billion to $14 billion;
Allstate warns of profit hit.
August 17, 2004: 7:38 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Insurers were trying Monday to sharpen loss
estimates for Hurricane Charley, which could emerge as the
second-costliest storm in the nation's history.
Damage from Hurricane Charley appears likely to make it the most
expensive natural disaster of the last 10 years.

The Category 4 hurricane, the second-strongest rating for a storm's
strength, crossed Florida from the Gulf of Mexico late Friday and
struck the Carolinas with diminished force Saturday. The storm killed
at least 17 people, Florida officials said Monday.

While Florida Gov. Jeb Bush put loss estimates at $15 billion over the
weekend, the insured losses could be considerably less. One insured
loss estimate was as low as $5 billion, and another put insured losses
at $7 billion to $14 billion.

The state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the insurer of last
resort that has 815,000 policyholders around the state, estimated its
losses from Charley would come to $1.2 billion. But the insurer, which
has the power to levy assessments on other insurers in case of a
deficit, said it believes it has the resources on hand to pay those
claims.

Allstate Insurance, the nation's largest investor-owned personal
insurer and the No. 3 writer of homeowners' insurance in Florida,
warned Monday that losses cannot yet be estimated, but that they could
affect the company's third-quarter earnings. But Allstate added the
hurricane would not have a material impact on its overall financial
condition.

Shares of Allstate (ALL: up $0.62 to $46.55, Research, Estimates) rose
about 1 percent in afternoon trading.

Smaller insurers face a bigger risk, especially those with a big chunk
of business in Florida.

One smaller Florida-based insurer warned Monday it would be seeking
higher premiums to cover its losses from the storm. Plantation,
Fla.-based Federated National Insurance Co. said the higher rates were
necessary to cover increased reinsurance costs ahead.

Federated National, owned by 21st Century Holding Co., also warned it
would take a charge of $1.25 a share in the current quarter, lowering
its earnings guidance for the year and sending 21 Century (TCHC:
Research, Estimates) stock down about 5 percent Monday, after tumbling
9 percent Friday.

Insurers' losses could be limited by the existence of the Florida
Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, a state entity that reimburses insurers
for losses on residential policies when more expensive storms hit the
state, up to a industrywide cap of about $15 billion. But the fund
only triggers if losses reach a certain level.

Allstate said the fund should reimburse it for up to $636 million in
losses, after the insurer makes initial payments of $286 million.

Insurers also have private reinsurance that limit their risk.
Other storm coverage
graphic

Munich Re, the world's largest reinsurer, estimated Monday that
insured losses from the storm would be in the $7 billion to $14
billion range. It said its loss is likely to be about $250 million.

Shares of Munich Re closed trading up about 1 percent in Frankfurt
Monday.

Even the lower end of Munich Re's estimates would put Charley second
only to 1992's Hurricane Andrew, which had inflation-adjusted insured
losses of $20.3 billion, in terms of the nation's most expensive
storms. Currently, the second-most expensive storm on the Insurance
Information Institute's list is 1989's Hurricane Hugo, at $6.2
billion.

Charley is virtually certain to be the most expensive natural disaster
in the decade since the Northridge, Calif., earthquake, which had
inflation-adjusted insured losses of about $15 billion.

One of the first things you need after a disaster is get your
insurance company on the case. Jeanne Salvatore, vice president of
consumer affairs at the Insurance Information Institute, offers tips.

Risk Management Solutions, a firm that does catastrophe modeling and
estimates for the insurance industry, said Saturday that insured
losses could be as low as $5 billion, down from its previous $10
billion estimate, because the center of the storm where winds were
strongest ended up being a relatively contained area.

AIR Worldwide, another catastrophe modeling firm, estimated losses at
$6 billion to $10 billion.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that also limiting industry
losses are some limits on hurricane coverage that became common in
Florida after Andrew. One common featu a hurricane deductible of 2
percent or more of a home's insured value. That would leave homeowners
responsible for the first $6,000 in damage on a $300,000 home.

Some insurers are also capping coverage at a certain percentage above
a home's insured value, rather than at a less-defined full replacement
cost, according to the paper.

While wind damage from a hurricane is covered on most property and
casualty policies, flood damage rarely is covered by private insurers
and therefore not included in most loss estimates.

Federal flood insurance is the only source of flood coverage, and
homes not in flood plains often times are without flood insurance,
meaning water damage can be uninsured.

The insurance industry is not the only one to take a hit from the
storm.

The Florida Citrus Mutual, the association of Florida citrus growers,
said that three of the largest citrus-producing counties -- DeSoto,
Hardee and Polk -- saw groves, barns and equipment destroyed by the
storm.

At the New York Board of Trade, the September contract for orange
solids jumped 7.25 cents, or 11.6 percent, to 69.5 cents a pound.
November futures jumped 5 cents, or 8 percent, to 68 cents.

Growers had just harvested this year's crop, but next spring's crop is
likely to be affected. Top of page