Insured losses from the hurricane climb significantly with Florida factored in and could total between $10 billion and $14 billion, according to estimates Monday. The storm killed at least 17 people in Florida and turned 25 counties in that state into federal disaster areas.

The $2 million estimate for South Carolina represents just a portion of the total losses suffered in the storm and doesn't account for deductibles paid by homeowners or property that is uninsured.

While the ultimate value of claims filed will come nowhere near the $4.2 billion doled out after 1989's Hurricane Hugo, Bruce White says Charley has kept him busy.

"We have more than 1,000 adjusters out there, with the largest amount of claims ranging from Socastee (west of Myrtle Beach) all the way to Georgetown," said the South Carolina spokesman for State Farm, the state's biggest insurer, writing policies for about a third of all homes and automobiles. "As of now we have received about 450 claims and don't expect too many more at this point."

About 325 of those claims were filed by homeowners, while the balance were filed car owners.

A South Carolina Insurance News Service survey projected that roughly 1,000 claims had been filed as of Monday afternoon, averaging $2,000 each. The Columbia-based industry trade group polled about 20 insurers doing business in the state, companies that account for 65 percent of the market, said Allison Dean Love, the group's executive director.

Today's higher deductibles for the hurricane portion of homeowners' policies mean the payouts for Charley will cover less of the real economic loss than in previous big storms. Unlike the flat deductibles of years past, most insurers now expect policyholders to pay a deductible anywhere between 1 percent and 5 percent of the insurable value of their homes. That comes to thousands of additional dollars that have to come out of homeowners' pockets after a storm strikes.

Lewis Dugan, Georgetown County's emergency management director, said early estimates in his county of 57,000 residents show close to $1 million in personal-property damage.

But the 70-mph winds took a greater toll than that figure suggests.

"You have to tack on ... damage to city sewers and repairing all types of infrastructure like power lines and water pipes," Dugan said. "You also have to include the overtime pay for firefighters, police officers, clean-up crews that have been working non-stop since the storm hit."

The bottom line: another $1.5 million in expenses for Georgetown.

In Florida, the blow to insurers and their customers was expected to be cushioned by the multibillion-dollar Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, which the state established after Hurricane Andrew battered the region in 1992. Andrew's damage drained insurers' cash reserves, raised premiums sharply and drove some companies out of the Florida market or out of business altogether.

Munich Re, the world's largest reinsurer -- companies that cover the losses of insurers -- estimated the total value of damage at about $20 billion and put total losses covered by insurance at between $7 billion and $14 billion.

Munich Re estimated its own exposure to be in "the low three-digit-million dollar range," said spokesman Florian Woest said.

Other companies issued lower estimates or said it was premature to estimate with damage still being assessed. AIR Worldwide Corp., a Boston-based risk modeling company that helps corporations assess catastrophe risk, pegged insured losses at $6 billion to $10 billion, while California-based Risk Management Solutions put them at $5 billion.

Two insurers among the most exposed are State Farm Insurance and Allstate, the nation's biggest personal-lines insurers and the two leading providers of homeowners' insurance in the worst-hit area. The two are the top insurance companies in South Carolina.

State Farm said its losses would be no more than $200 million because of Florida's hurricane fund and reinsurance contracts.

Allstate said it would pay the first $289 million of catastrophic losses in Florida, with the hurricane fund covering 90 percent of losses above that total.

Allstate spokesman Mike Trevino said it's too early to talk about a possible impact on rates. But, he added, "The likelihood that any single event would have an effect on rates is small."

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