Claims News Service, Sept. 12, 2:57 p.m. — As Hurricane Ike approaches land and becomes more organized in size and wind speeds, one catastrophe modeling firm is warning the north Texas coast to ready itself for landfall late Friday or early Saturday.

"The largest concentrations of exposure in Texas are along the northern part of the coast, near Houston," said Dr. Peter Dailey, director of atmospheric science at AIR Worldwide, in a release. "In fact, the five northernmost coastal counties, including Houston's Harris County, account for 85 percent of the total coastal exposure in Texas, which by AIR's estimate exceeds $890 billion."

That kind of enormous exposure means insurers and independent adjusters will be busy responding over the weekend. Many are already on standby and awaiting deployment, while job boards on web sites such as www.catadjuster.org are teeming with opportunities for catastrophe adjusters from companies such as Cunningham Lindsey, Custard Insurance Adjusters and Baron Catastrophe Services.