WASHINGTON (AP) -- Insured damage from Irene will range between $2 billion and $3 billion, and the total losses will likely be about $7 billion, according to preliminary estimates by Kinetic
Analysis Corp. a consulting firm.
Both figures are less than had been feared, a bit of reassuring news for a fragile economy.
Still, the long-term costs of Irene will likely grow as storm-ravaged areas deal with lost business, insurance claims, dislocated workers and transportation disruptions - costs that willtake months to fully calculate.
The preliminary estimate from Kinetic Analysis, based in Silver Spring, Md., suggests that Irene will have caused far less insured damage than the $6 billion the industry paid out after Hurricane Isabel struck the East Coast in 2003.
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