Nearly 95 percent of homeowners' claims from Hurricane Katrina have been settled, according to the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America and the Insurance Information Institute. Recently the organizations jointly reported on the number of homeowners' insurance claims settled in Louisiana and Mississippi and the economic impact of the money paid by insurers in damage claims one year after Hurricane Katrina.

The I.I.I. estimates that more than 993,000 homeowners' insurance claims have been settled in the two states, totaling nearly $15.5 billion. Homeowners' insurers will pay more than one million homeowners claims, totaling $16.4 billion, from Hurricane Katrina. In Louisiana, 658,700 homeowners' claims, or 94.8 percent, have been settled, totaling $10.3 billion. In Mississippi, 334,800, or 94.3 percent, of expected homeowners' claims, totaling $5.2 billion, have been settled. These estimates do not include claims filed with the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the state-owned property insurance company of last resort, or claims for flood damage filed with FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program. Standard homeowners' insurance policies usually do not cover losses from flooding

PCI's analysis indicates that the influx of insurance claim payments is contributing to the region's recovery. The billions of dollars in claims paid to date are helping fuel an increase in residential building, and the increase in federal aid -- totaling $107 billion -- should further progress, according to PCI.