Property insurance claims from the September 11th attacks are worth $16.6 billion and rising, according to the first estimate from the main US claims tallying service.
That would make the destruction of the World Trade Center, along with the damage to the Pentagon, the most expensive event ever for insurers, passing the $15.5 billion paid out for Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
The $16.6 billion estimate, the first made by the Insurance Services Office, includes only property damage and related coverages, such as business interruption insurance.
The estimate does not include liability insurance, workers' compensation, aviation losses, life and health insurance or the cost of debris removal.
Including those, insurers face up to $70 billion in claims, analysts say.
The ISO estimate will rise, the firm says, as many people and businesses are delaying claims until they can get a proper assessment of the damage.
According to the ISO, the destruction of the World Trade Center has caused 50,000 personal property claims so far, along with 18,000 commercial property claims and 4,000 car claims, worth about $16.59 billion in total.
In Virginia, the damage to the Pentagon has caused 1,500 personal property claims, 200 commercial property claims and 300 car claims, totaling about $6.5 million, according to the ISO. The Pentagon itself, like most federal government property, was not insured on the commercial market.