Claims pour in after Charley blows through

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But Charley did little damage in scraping South Carolina's coast, according to an insurance industry information service.

Insurers reported about $1.8 million worth of Charley-related claims in South Carolina, Allison Dean Love, executive director of the South Carolina Insurance News Service, said Monday.

As of 3 p.m. Monday, 20 insurance companies that do business in the state reported just under 1,000 claims, with the average claim about $2,000, Love said. The claims mostly originated from Georgetown and Myrtle Beach, she said.

"This is the least-damaging hurricane that we've experienced in recent years," Love said.

With damage in South Carolina minimal, insurance companies are sending South Carolina adjusters to Florida to help assess damage there, she said.

In Florida, home, auto and commercial insurers sent teams to assess the damage and were taking claims at temporary centers set up at venues ranging from Wal-Marts to the Daytona International Speedway.

Both State Farm Insurance and Allstate Insurance, the nation's two biggest insurers, are facing steep losses from Charley, which killed at least 17 people and left 25 counties declared federal disaster areas. But the blow will be eased somewhat by the Hurricane Catastrophe Fund which Florida established in the wake of devastating Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

State Farm said its losses would be limited to no more than $200 million because of the Florida fund and reinsurance contracts. Reinsurers provide backup for primary insurance companies, enabling the system to spread risk so it can cover losses from major disasters.

Allstate said it would pay the first $289 million of catastrophic losses in Florida, but the company had not actually estimated losses yet. The nation's biggest publicly traded insurer said it does not expect the storm to have a material impact on its operating results or financial condition.