Louisiana Katrina P-C Claims Total $14.5 Billion

NU Online News Service

The Louisiana Department of Insurance marked the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina today by announcing that property insurers, as of July 31, have paid an estimated $14.5 billion in property claims in the state that resulted from the storm's damage.

According to the department, the $14,552,324,751 in claims paid does not include losses paid by the National Flood Insurance Program.

The figures from the agency also include a reported claim count of 716,864, which includes home, commercial and auto damage.

All of the state's 64 parishes reported claims, and the parish with most claims was listed as Jefferson Parish--with 218,939 claims costing $4.4 billion. The parish, with a pre-hurricane population of more than 455,043, is located on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain and runs to the Gulf of Mexico coast. It is next to Orleans Parish and New Orleans.

Orleans Parish had the costliest claims among the parishes, totaling $5.1 billion for 179,123 claims.

Of all claims filed, 57.6 percent came from homeowners--a total of 413,052 claims filed, costing $5.8 billion.

According to the department, commercial, multi-peril claims' payments were the highest--averaging $85,169 per claim.

A spokesperson for the department, Bobby Clark, said the department was not necessarily working off the same numbers as the Insurance Information Institute.

The Institute last week reported homeowners' claims in Louisiana totaled $10.3 billion, and that 658,700 had been settled.