INSURANCE

Record Property Damage Reported: Insurers suffered their most catastrophic fourth quarter ever in 1995 as Hurricane Opal helped push property damage to $2.6 billion, the insurance industry reported. The record-shattering quarter capped the third-biggest year for natural catastrophes. Disasters ranging from Pacific Coast storms to violent hail in the Southwest caused $8.3 billion in damage to insured properties last year, the American Insurance Services Group said. “While 1995 lacked the mega-catastrophes of 1992 and 1994, it nevertheless produced the third-highest total insured property loss figure on record,” said Gary Kerney, assistant vice president of the group.