(by Arthur Headner)

Damage claims from Hurricane Frances that hit Florida can reach $10 billion, specialists say.

Frances has already left Florida for the Gulf of Mexico giving the opportunity for the insurers, such as Allstate Corp., St. Paul Travelers Cos. and others to start assessing their losses that are anticipated to be between $2 billion and $10 billion.

This hurricane had maximum winds of 105 mph moving ashore early yesterday morning near Fort Pierce, about 130 miles north of Miami leading to 2.1 million people being without power in southern and central Florida, and 2.5 million being evacuated. Despite of the fact, specialists say there won’t be a very wide area of damage.

This year is considered to be the costliest since marked by September 11 losses 2001 as Hurricane Charley’s damage accounted for $6.8 billion in August.