Charley storm damage could reach $20 billion

[logybogy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/15/natio ... nsure.html

Damage inflicted by Hurricane Charley as it ripped across the midsection of Florida on Friday and early yesterday could exceed $20 billion, making it one of the most costly storms in history, economic analysts said.

Karen Clark, the chief executive of AIR Worldwide, a Boston firm that provides damage assessments for insurance companies, said some of the most severe destruction came from surging seas sweeping across the barrier islands and beaches of Florida's Gulf Coast in the vicinity of Punta Gorda as the hurricane first made landfall.

But Ms. Clark and field representatives of insurance companies said Orlando, with its glistening downtown office towers, Disneyworld and other huge theme parks, was also hit hard even though the storm's gusts were diminishing as it moved through the center of the state and skimmed past Daytona Beach on its way to the Atlantic Ocean.

"We have a swath of damage across the state," she said. "Lee and Charlotte Counties on the West coast were the hardest hit. But the damage in Orlando is also significant."