Wilma among top three most costly storms

Insured losses from Hurricane Wilma have been predicted to come between $6 billion and $9 billion, according to AIR Worldwide, a firm that does catastrophe modeling for the insurance industry. If these numbers were correct, it would put Wilma behind only Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Andrew (1992) in terms of insured losses. Most losses will occur on Florida's east coast between West Palm Beach and Miami, where the firm estimates that there is more than $500 billion of insured properties. Wilma is the seventh hurricane to hit Florida in the past 14 months, and oil prices have been lower since oil platforms and refineries along the US Gulf Coast, recently hit by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, were spared from the storm.

How do you think the government will respond to the disaster caused by Hurricane Wilma after their response to the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina? How do you think the economy will be effected from all the insured losses? How do you think oil prices will react?