The record total of homeowners' insurance claim payments that resulted from the 2005 hurricanes in the Gulf area is enough to wipe out all homeowners' premiums paid in Louisiana during the past 25 years, and enough to erase all homeowners' premiums paid in Mississippi during the past 17 years, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

Homeowners' insurers in Louisiana are expected to pay $12.4 billion in claims from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, an amount equal to all homeowners' insurance premiums paid in the state since 1981 and nearly 13 times the estimated $969 million in homeowners' premiums paid last year. They expect to pay 695,000 claims to homeowners in Louisiana from Hurricane Katrina and 130,000 homeowners' claims from Hurricane Rita, according to ISO.

Insurers in Mississippi are expected to pay $5.5 billion in claims from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, an amount equal to all homeowners' insurance premiums paid in the state since 1989 and nearly nine times the estimated $625 million in homeowners' premiums paid last year. They expect to pay on 355,000 claims to homeowners in Mississippi from Hurricane Katrina and 5,000 homeowners' claims from Hurricane Rita.

Overall insured catastrophe losses in 2005 exceeded $55 billion, a new record. The majority of those losses occurred in Louisiana and Mississippi. Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Wilma, and Dennis resulted in a total of approximately three million claims.

More information is available at www.iii.org.

Special Reports /

Louisiana, Mississippi Insurers Face Record Losses

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