Hurricane Katrina should turn out to be one of the costliest storms in US history for insurers, although its late shift away from New Orleans may have kept losses from being even higher.
Insurers estimate insured losses could be as high as $26 billion, though one cut its forecast to as low as $9 billion after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.
Although packing winds of 140 miles per hour when it came ashore, Katrina had by then weakened slightly, leaving New Orleans on its western, less catastrophic side.
But damage was severe in much of Louisiana and Mississippi, including the latter's coastal tourist havens of Biloxi and Gulfport, and one of the levees protecting New Orleans, which sits below sea level, was breached.
Last year's four Florida hurricanes - Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne - together resulted in $22.8 billion of insured losses.
Reinsurers may pay a bigger share of claims than they did for the 2004 hurricanes, Fitch Ratings said. This is because Katrina is a single event, so insurers will pay one deductible before reinsurance starts, compared with four deductibles last year.
Fitch said Katrina will probably be the costliest single event for insurers since the September 11th attacks.