Jeanne makes history in Florida

Hurricane Jeanne is making history in Florida, and causing extensive damage. The category-3 storm touched down near Stuart, Florida late Saturday, becoming the fourth hurricane to hit Florida this year a record number during one season to hit the state.For insurers, the storm makes it likely 2004 will top the losses experienced as a result of Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Even before Jeanne made landfall, risk modeler EQECAT was predicting insured losses of US$4-$7 billion this comes on top of about US$7 billion in losses from Hurricane Charley in mid-August, US$4.5 billion from Hurricane Frances in early September, and estimates from Hurricane Ivan still varying widely but will certainly be in the billions. These three hurricanes were likely to top the US$15 billion insurance tab for Andrew, according to the Insurance Information Institute (III).Now Jeanne has wiped out power to more than a million Florida residents and wreaked havoc with winds in excess of 100 mph and heavy rains. As of mid-Sunday, Jeanne was centered 30 miles southeast of Tampa and still packing sustained winds up to 75 mph. The storm is expected to weaken as it turns northward, with it hitting the southeast U.S. as a storm through Tuesday.Jeanne is responsible for extensive damage in the Bahamas, but it is Haiti which suffered the worst under the hurricane, which has been blamed for as many as 1,500 deaths due to flooding.