Hurricane Katrina takes US insurance payouts to record $41bn. The devastating Hurricane Katrina will cost US insurers an estimated $34.4 billion (£19.7 billion) in insured property losses, according to new figures.
The storm, which swept through the Gulf of Mexico, was the costliest US catastrophe ever, ISO's Property Claim Services (PCS) unit reports. The New Jersey risk management firm predicts that the damage cause by the hurricane to homes and businesses in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee and Georgia will cost property/casualty insurers considerably more than the inflation-adjusted $20.8 billion bill from Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Policyholders will lodge a predicted 1.6 million claims for damage to property, vehicles and boats, with an expected $22.6 billion worth of claims from the state of Louisiana alone.
The city of New Orleans was worst hit by Hurricane Katrina, with widespread flooding and strong winds. "Big Rise in Katrina Cost Forecast," BBC News. The spiralling cost of Hurricane Katrina is taking a growing toll on the insurance market, leading firms warn.
The world's second-biggest reinsurer, Swiss Re, now reckons that companies will have to pay out a total of $40bn (£22bn), twice its initial estimate. California-based Risk Management Solutions, which assesses disasters for insurers and financial institutions, said losses may be even higher. It sees insured losses at more than $60bn, with total damage at $125bn. Risk Management said its higher figure was based on reconnaissance work carried out last week. Flood damage is expected to account for half the total economic loss.
The hurricane caused widespread devastation in New Orleans, where about 60% of the city is still under water. The cost estimate is higher than the cost of the suicide attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001. Economic cost And estimates of the wider economic cost of the hurricane are also growing. 'Increasing catastrophes' Re-insurance pressures. 'Happier in UK than in Poland' Poles who have recently arrived in the UK are by and large happy to be here.
They think the British have been friendly and welcoming, but they do not think we are hard-working. These are just some of the findings of a survey of 135 Polish residents conducted by the BBC. We know so little about our recent arrivals, it is hard even to conduct a full-size survey of them. Without a full census of the population, no-one really knows what a representative sample would look like.
So to fill a gap, we decided to conduct a straw poll of Poles. A detailed 30-item questionnaire - in Polish - was given to people at a festival over the weekend, and then separately to a smaller group of Poles seeking work on the street. Take-up was high, as there was a small reward (£2 or a refreshment voucher) for filling the survey out. All 135 respondents were adults who had been here from two months to five years. It took them a little over five minutes to fill out the survey.
Unconvincing answers. 2006 - Eka builds new Chlorine Dioxide Generator at Suzano Mucuri mill, Brazil. 20-06-2006: Eka Chemicals do Brazil S.A, a company within the Akzo Nobel group, has signed an agreement with Suzano Papel e Celulose S.A to supply a new turn-key chlorine dioxide plant with a long term chlorate supply agreement to the Mucuri pulp mill, Bahia, Brazil.
Suzano Mucuri, located on the south coast of Bahia State, is a 700 000 ton/p.a. eucalyptus pulp mill partially integrated with a 270,000 ton/p.a. printing and writing paper machine. Suzano Papel e Celulose S.A., is building a new large scale pulp mill line at Mucuri, with start-up scheduled for August 2007. The mill will produce a total 1,250,000 ton p.a. of eucalyptus ECF (elemental chlorine free) bleached pulp. Initially, Eka built a 25 tpd chlorine dioxide (SVP-Lite) plant at Mucuri, Bahia in 2003, which has since been operating at high performance. For the new pulp mill line, Suzano and Eka have signed an agreement for Eka to build a second turn-key 45 tpd chlorine dioxide plant.