Claims News Service, Sept.26, 10:41 a.m. EST -- Coinciding with the anniversary of Hurricane Rita, The Louisiana Department of Insurance (LDOI) recently issued an updated estimate of reported claims and insured losses paid-to-date for damage caused by the storm, which hit the state on Sept. 24, 2005. The following estimates do not include payments made by the government-sponsored National Flood Insurance Program.

According to the release, total losses paid in the state have exceeded $2.4 billion for the 200,582 claims made so far, meaning that the average claim payment is more than $12,000. The LDOI also noted that roughly 59 percent of claims made in the state were related to homeowners' coverage, accounting for $1.3 billion of the reported losses and 118,726 claims.

The LDOI's report also noted other statistics from Hurricane Rita, a storm who's damage is sometimes overlooked because of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina just a month prior. Though Katrina easily ranks as costliest hurricane in U.S. history, Rita was responsible for more than $5 billion in insured losses and qualifies as the seventh worst hurricane to ever hit the shores, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

Other LDOI statistics include:

All 64 Louisiana parishes reported Rita-related insurance claims.

Eleven parishes had claim counts of 5,000 or higher.

Calcasieu Parish had the most claims (69,793) as well as costliest claims ($1.4 billion).

The ocean marine line of business had the highest average payment per claim ($206,464).

Special Reports /

One Year Later: Louisiana Updates Rita Claim Statistics

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