State Farm Expects 6,500 Isidore Claims

Gary Stevens, with State Farm's Monroe, La. office, said the insurer, with about one-third of the state's auto and home insurance market, has so far received 3,339 homeowners claims and 2,147 auto claims.

He said about one third of the homeowners claims involved flooding. The insurer serves as a vendor channel for the federal flood insurance program.

A spokesman for Alfa Insurance in Montgomery, Ala. said the company had received only a few hundred claims, all of a low-dollar variety involving limbs falling on houses. He noted that the damage had been relatively mild because winds from the storm's winds had abated to 65-miles-an-hour after it came ashore.

Mr. Wooley said Isidore caused an estimated $100 million in insured damages in South Louisiana, according to preliminary estimates compiled by the department.

Auto insurance losses, according to the department, add up to an estimated $50 million. Homeowners and commercial insurance losses each total around $25 million. Mr. Wooley said those figures include flood claims.

Flood insurance is available from the National Flood Insurance Program, which is administered through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Mr. Wooley said Tropical Storm Isidore caused significant damage but could have been much worse. "Isidore was once a Category 3 hurricane that, thankfully, never really reorganized once it swept into the Gulf of Mexico," he said.