NU Online News Service, Feb. 3, 2:48 p.m.EST

Aon Benfield said economic damages from flooding in Australiaduring the month of January currently stand at about $5.65 billionand economic losses could reach between $10 billion and $20 billionafter the cost of repairing and rebuilding.

Simultaneously, catastrophe modeler EQECAT said it expectseconomic losses from Tropical Storm Yasi—which made landfall earlyThursday in Queensland, Australia as a Category 5 storm—to be $2billion to $5 billion. EQECAT based its estimate on the losses of asimilar storm, Larry, in 2006.

The reinsurance intermediary of Aon Corp., Aon Benfield,released its “Monthly Cat Recap” report published by ImpactForecasting. Steve Jakubowski, president of Impact, said floodingin Australia during January has been “absolutely devastating” on aneconomic level because dozens of mines in Queensland have been hitand will not reopen for months.

“The assessment of this cost from a business interruptionperspective will be an ongoing challenge for the reinsuranceindustry,” he added.

Yasi made landfall near the tourist village of Mission Beach,about 70 miles south of the city of Cairns, with a population ofmore than 150,000, according to modelers AIR Worldwide and RiskManagement Solutions (RMS).

Winds from Yasi destroyed homes, traffic lights, and downedtrees and power lines, said RMS. Damage estimates vary widely. Morethan 100,000 people are without power, RMS and AIR reported.

About four inches of rain fell within 24 hours and another eightinches is forecast to fall as the storm goes inland, RMS said.

Again comparing Yasi to Larry, RMS said Yasi made landfallfarther to the north as a larger and stronger storm than Larry.According to the Insurance Council of Australia, Cyclone Larryresulted in $547.7 million of insured damage.

Reinsurer PartnerRe Ltd. recently said Australia flooding in December isexpected to cost the company between $25 million and $35 million,to be recorded in 2010 fourth-quarter results. Chubb Corp. recentlysaid the first round of flooding in late 2010 did not affect theinsurer, but it expects 2011 flood-related losses of between $75million and $100 million to dampen first-quarter earnings—anestimate made before this latest flooding.

Queensland-based insurer SunCorp said that as a result of itscombination of the catastrophe and aggregate reinsurance programs,Suncorp expects its net claims costs from Yasi will be capped at$10 million.