Claims News Service, Oct. 24, 3:30 p.m. EDT -- In a press release today, catastrophe risk modeling company AIR Worldwide Corporation estimated U.S. insured losses from Hurricane Wilma at $6 billion to $9 billion. Wilma strengthened overnight and made landfall at 6:30 a.m. this morning at Cape Romano, Florida, as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph.

As a Category 3 storm, Wilma is significantly less intense than August's Hurricane Katrina, a strong Category 4 hurricane. In addition to Wilma's lower wind speeds and fast forward speed of near 23 mph, the decreased vulnerability of structures in Florida will lead to insured losses well below those of Katrina.

"Our detailed analysis of claims data from the 2004 season showed that Florida's stronger [building] codes led to less damage than would normally be expected had the storms hit a more vulnerable area of the coast, as reflected in our model."