An industry group said insurance adjusters still have not been able to get into the areas worst hit by Hurricane Katrina, but insurers hope to have firmer loss estimates by the middle of next week.

The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI), based in Des Plaines, Ill., said claims adjusters have still been denied access into the worst hit areas–the cities of New Orleans, Biloxi, Miss., and Mobile, Ala. But insurers are hopeful they can begin to get into the worst hit areas soon to produce firmer estimates of claim numbers and costs by Sept. 7.

Dick Luedke, a spokesman for State Farm, based in Bloomington, Ill., said the company has processed 50,000 claims and has 2,600 claims specialists in the field. He said representatives have been in Florida since Katrina first struck the Southern portion of the state last Thursday, and have been in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama for the past few days working on claims.

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