From the ISO Press Release;

"U.S. property/casualty insurers are expected to pay an estimated $1.22 billion to homeowners and businesses in insured property losses from seven catastrophe events in first-quarter 2007, PCS reported.

PCS also estimated that the four winter storms and three severe weather events produced nearly 204,000 claims in 18 states from California to Florida during the period.

The quarter’s costliest event occurred in early March, when tornadoes raked areas of Alabama and Georgia. While the damage from this harsh weather outbreak cost insurers more than $450 million, a more serious impact was the loss of life associated with the severe tornado activity in areas such as Enterprise, Alabama, and Americus, Georgia.

Of the 18 states, the five with the largest insured property losses were Georgia ($285 million), Alabama ($175 million), Texas ($167 million), Missouri ($140 million), and Florida ($100 million).

Following is the breakdown of first-quarter catastrophe activity during the past decade:"

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The below comes from the article.

"One of the research team's surprising conclusions: when it comes to the damage they wreak, hurricanes and tsunamis can bring surprisingly similar forces to bear. "A lot of the hurricane damage along the Mississippi coastline came from storm surges -- not from high winds or levee flooding that occurred in the New Orleans area," said Yin Lu "Julie" Young, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Princeton University. "Storm surges result in very different mechanisms. When it comes to forces on a structure, what happens in a storm surge is very similar to what happens in a tsunami."

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FORT COLLINS - The U.S. Atlantic basin will likely experience a very active hurricane season, the Colorado State University forecast team announced today, increasing its earlier prediction for the 2007 hurricane season.

The team's forecast now anticipates 17 named storms forming in the Atlantic basin between June 1 and Nov. 30. Nine of the 17 storms are predicted to become hurricanes, and of those nine, five are expected to develop into intense or major hurricanes (Saffir/Simpson category 3-4-5) with sustained winds of 111 mph or greater.

No hurricanes made landfall along the U.S. coastline in 2006.  The 2006 season witnessed a total of 10 named storms, 5 hurricanes and two major hurricanes.  The 2005 season, considered unusual by the Colorado State forecast team, witnessed 27 named storms, 15 hurricanes and seven intense hurricanes. Long-term averages are 9.6 named storms, 5.9 hurricanes and 2.3 intense hurricanes per year.

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Related Link: The Cane Page