Early Irene Estimates: Insured Losses of $1.5B-$3B

By the time Hurricane Irene reached New York City Sunday morning, its status had been downgraded to a tropical storm. While the worst-case scenarios were avoided, early estimates still have Irene causing up to $3 billion in insured losses, with total losses reaches reaching up to $7 billion.

Eqecat says it expects $200-$400 million of that to come from damages in the Carolinas. It will release a total estimate of Hurricane Irene losses soon.

Kinetic Analysis Corp. has put out an insured-loss estimate of $2.6 billion (far below the $14 billion in possible losses the company was warning of on Thursday, before Irene lost much of its power).

The storm was at its most-fierce in the Caribbean--and AIR Worldide is putting insured losses for the island nations in the $500 million to $1.1 billion range.

Much of the losses in the U.S., of course, will be covered under NFIP claims: a fact sure to put an extra spotlight on the program, which is set to expire Sept. 30. 

Stay tuned for more coverage of Irene from PC360's news team throughout the day.