Gustav may cost $10b in insurance

Hurricane Gustav may trigger insurance claims as high as $10 billion after lashing Louisiana, according to firms that specialize in catastrophe estimates, making it potentially the fourth-highest total for a US storm.

The hurricane lost power as it headed for shore, on Monday, keeping insured losses on land between $3 billion and $7 billion and oil-drilling damage at $1 billion to $3 billion, according to estimates from Newark, California-based Risk Management Solutions Inc. That's less than Katrina's record $41.1 billion in 2005.