Risk Management Solutions (RMS), the catastrophe modeling firm,said yesterday it has increased its estimate for U.S. insuredlosses from Hurricane Wilma to $8-to-$12 billion from an originalestimate of $6-to-$10 billion.

The Newark, Calif.-based company said its estimate includesonshore damage resulting from wind and coastal storm surge,business interruption, and demand surge, the increased costs formaterials and services needed for repairs.

RMS said it upped its estimate of insured loss after furtheranalysis of the wind speeds in the Miami metropolitan area andalong the eastern coastline, which Wilma crossed as a large,Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

The company said its reconnaissance teams have reportedextensive areas of roof damage indicative of wind speeds in excessof 90-100 mph across the area.

Team members have found high-rise commercial buildings in Miamihave also sustained significant damage to windows and cladding,contributing to the insured losses, RMS said.

RMS also noted widespread power outages continuing throughoutthe Miami metropolitan area, as well as in parts of Naples andsurrounding communities, which it said will likely propagatebusiness interruption claims.

RMS in addition to information about the impacts from the stormand options for selecting similar events modeled in the RMS U.S.Hurricane Model provides a high-resolution windfield footprint thatdisplays a representation of the distribution of wind speeds acrossthe storm's path.

RMS said it also provides building-level geocoding, which allowsusers to identify multiple-account accumulations within individualbuildings in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale metropolitan area.

It noted that an insurer's exposure in a large commercialbuilding can come from multiple lines of business, multiplecoverages and multiple tenants.

RMS said it will continue to monitor Wilma's impact throughoutthe week.