Heavy cost of Hurricane Frances

Hurricane Frances lashed parts of Florida earlier this month

Insurance payments to victims of Hurricane Frances look set to reach $4.4bn (£2.4bn), making the storm the fourth most expensive in US history.

August's Hurricane Charley has already cost $7.4bn and insurers have yet to calculate the costs of Hurricane Ivan.

"We're seeing Ivan as being much like Frances," said a spokeswoman for the US Insurance Information Institute (III).

Heavy losses from flooding are expected from Frances and Ivan, but with less structural damage than from Charley.

Hurricane Frances hit central Florida on 3 September with winds of 105 mph (169 kph).

Insurers ride storm

Though Frances was three times the size of Charley, wind speeds were lower.

Charley struck Florida in August with a wind speed of 145 mph (233 kph), while Ivan arrived with winds of 130 mph (214 kph) when it hit Alabama.

The Insurance Institute, based in New Jersey, said Florida accounted for $4.1bn (£2.27bn) in insured property losses, with more than 500,000 claims from Frances.

About one out of every five Florida homes has been damaged by a hurricane so far this year, according to the III.

However, Ivan, Charley and Frances together do not pose a "solvency-threatening event to the industry", according to Robert Hartwig, chief economist of the insurance body.

The hurricane which cost insurers the most was Hurricane Andrew which struck Florida and the Gulf Coast in August 1992, resulting in $15.5bn (£8.6bn) of insured losses, or about $20.6bn in today's terms.