BLIZZARD OF INSURANCE CLAIMS FOLLOWS THE WEEKEND STORM

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 17, 1993                   TAG: 9303170115
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HARTFORD, CONN.                                LENGTH: Medium
BLIZZARD OF INSURANCE CLAIMS FOLLOWS THE WEEKEND STORM
Insurers have been deluged with damage claims from the winter storm that battered the Eastern seaboard over the weekend, but some predicted the financial beating will be less severe than that following other recent storms.
Most major insurers said it was too early to tell how much the storm would cost the industry. But after looking at the number of early claims, several predicted their losses wouldn't equal those from Hurricane Andrew.
The ITT Hartford Insurance Group, a subsidiary of New York-based ITT Corp., said it had received more than 3,500 claims by Monday afternoon, most from homeowners in Florida and North Carolina reporting damage from tornadoes and high wind.
Aetna Life & Casualty said it had received about 1,500 claims, mainly from Southern states. Spokesman Stephen Wasdick said Aetna is expecting many more claims this week from homeowners who are still digging out from the blizzard that dumped more than 2 feet of snow on some areas.
But "this storm will not have the impact of Hurricane Andrew and there's a question as to whether it will be as severe as the December storm" that pounded the Northeast, Wasdick said.
But A.M. Best Co., the leading rating agency for the insurance industry, estimated the storm caused about $800 million in insured damages. December's nor'easter caused $650 million in damages.
The storm, which was blamed for 128 deaths from Cuba to Canada, dumped heavy snow and caused some coastal flooding in the Northeast. It was the latest blow to an industry that reported a record $22.97 billion in catastrophe losses in 1992, a year of multiple natural disasters.
"This latest storm . . . will once again challenge the industry's financial strength," Snyder said.
Others downplayed the effect of the storm, saying it will not compare with the financial devastation caused by Hurricane Andrew.
"It's just another piece of the aggregate total loss that insurers have paid over the last year," said Gary Kerney, director of catastrophe services for The American Insurance Services Group Inc., which estimates insurance losses.
"It certainly doesn't help, but the insurance industry on average responds to about 36 catastrophes each year, so we as an industry are prepared for this kind of thing," he said.
Kerney said the group has identified 24 states affected by the storm, which stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to Maine.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB