Building standards in the Gulf Coast region are not as stringent as other hurricane-prone regions. We expect this contributed to increased wind damage.

It's much weaker, but the size of the storm tends to grow. Even a category 3 could cause $25 billion in damage.

We expect to see significant damage to residential and commercial properties near and to the east of Rita's track. Fortunately, the heavy commercial and industrial areas of Port Arthur and Beaumont — with their numerous refineries — were to the left of the storm's track, where wind speeds are lower, so we do not expect to see significant structural damage to the refineries.

If it came ashore in a rural area, it could be just a few billion dollars. It [insured loss] is very sensitive to where it actually makes landfall.

If it came ashore in a rural area, it could be just a few billion dollars. It (insured loss) is very sensitive to where it actually makes landfall.

With an average forward speed of only about three miles per hour, many areas were subject to hurricane and tropical storm force winds for more than 24 hours.