A busy month of back-to-back hurricanes in September has leftinsurers paying billions in claims, but so far initial responsesindicate lessons learned from Katrina are paying off.

Hurricane Gustav powered its way toward the Gulf Coast in lateAugust and at one point reached Category 4-strength, meaning windspeeds were measured between 131 and 155 mph.

What had most insurers nervous, however, was whether Gustavwould cause the kind of residential and commercial damage sustainedwhen Hurricane Katrina hit almost three years ago to the day. Thegeneral consensus is that insurers dodged a bullet — even thoughclaim payouts are expected to be in the billions — because thestorm did not develop as strongly as expected and failed to make adirect hit on New Orleans.

“It seems that 2008 is turning into an active year forhurricanes,” said RMS' Dr. Christine Ziehmann. “This is what wewould anticipate in this new period of heightened activity, whichwe've been experiencing since 1995.”

Two weeks later, Hurricane Ike made landfall as a Category2-strength storm, causing destruction and power outages not onlyalong the Texas and Louisiana coasts, but also in places as faraway as the Midwest.

According to a report from Guy Carpenter, the center of Ike hitGalveston Island, Texas, on Sept. 13, with wind speeds of 110 mph.One of the storm's biggest predicted threats had been its stormsurge, which the National Hurricane Center said could be more than25 feet due to the large size of the storm. However, according to areport from risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide, the surge failed toreach that height, instead topping out at 13 feet. That was stillenough to cause overflows at flood walls and barriers, resulting insignificant flood damage to Galveston.

Despite the extensive flood losses, it is evident that Ike'swinds will result in a high number of residential and commercialinsurance claims, keeping catastrophe adjusters busy for months tocome.

Guy Carpenter's summary report indicated that the day afterIke's landfall, much of the city of Houston remained without power,meaning some 2.4 million in the Houston area were in the dark, afact that will contribute to a high number of business interruptionclaims. Additionally, the report stated that high winds had blownout the windows of many high-rise commercial buildings inHouston.

Ike also caused heavy rainfall and strong winds as it continuedthrough the heart of the U.S. The states of Illinois, Indiana,Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Arkansas reportedextensive flood damage and power outages, spawned from the heavyrains and winds, and several people across these states were killedin drowning or wind-related incidents.

Learning from lessons taught by Katrina, many insurers werequick to point out some of the measures they are taking in order toreact as quickly as possible to the insurance claims fromHurricanes Gustav and Ike.

In particular, State Farm, which has the most exposure inLouisiana, turned to different types of technology to help ease theclaim process. The company deployed 33 satellite-equipped vehiclesthat can be taken to remote locations and set up so that they areoperational within four hours. State Farm also had 12 mobile officefacilities that allowed claim representatives to set up drive-inauto claim operations for automobiles affected by the storm.

Several months ago, State Farm also set up temporary hot spotsthat were located within 50 to 100 feet of a leased facility or ahotel. This allowed the company's claim representatives to connectto the Internet more quickly and without hard wiring. The companyalso utilized air cards, laptops, and GPS units.