Air Worldwide has estimated that Hurricane Rita will result in insured losses between $2.5bn and $5bn.

Rita made landfall between Sabine Pass and Johnson's Bayou on the Louisiana coast as a Category 3 hurricane but quickly lost its initial force.

The strongest winds affected the sparsely populated western Louisiana coast, resulting in relatively low insured losses for a storm of its intensity and size.

The cities of Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas and Lake Charles are likely to see the most significant damage, with damage extending as far south as Galveston, Texas and far east as New Orleans. Storm surge of 10 to 15 feet, with local heights of up to 20 feet in inlets and bays, will result in additional damage.

Dr Jayanta Guin, vice president of research and modelling at Air Worldwide, said: “We expect to see significant damage to residential and commercial properties near and to the east of Rita's track.

"Fortunately, the heavy commercial and industrial areas of Port Arthur and Beaumont—with their numerous refineries—were to the left of the storm's track, where wind speeds are lower, so we do not expect to see significant structural damage to the refineries.

We expect insured losses from Hurricane Rita will be much lower than those caused by Hurricane Katrina. Both reached Category 5 status in the warm waters of the Gulf, however Katrina maintained much of that intensity at landfall, while Rita weakened significantly.

"In addition to being a smaller and less intense storm, Rita's strongest winds impacted an area with far fewer insured properties than Katrina.”

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