INSURANCE

$1.6 Billion in Storm-Related Claims: Insurance companies will pay about $1.6 billion in property-damage claims resulting from a massive storm earlier this month along the Gulf Coast and Eastern Seaboard, a trade group said. The storm, which raged through 24 states from March 11 to 14, was the fourth-largest catastrophe on record in terms of insured property damage, the American Insurance Services Group said. It was topped only by Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Hurricane Hugo in 1989, and the Oakland fire in 1991. The hardest-hit state was Florida. Other areas with significant insured property damage were Georgia, $300 million; North Carolina, $120 million; New York, $90 million; Pennsylvania, $90 million; Alabama, $75 million, and South Carolina, $70 million.