Several Bermuda-based insurers could be hit with millions in claims if Hurricane Charley does the damage forecasters said it might.

Yesterday Florida residents began the massive task of cleaning up from a storm that state officials estimated caused damages as high as $11 billion for insured homes alone. Meanwhile, the death toll in Florida was raised to 16 as the remnants of Charley disintegrated off the northeastern United States.

Analysts that follow the insurance sector named at least three Bermuda-based firms as being exposed to losses in the event of Charley hitting Florida.

They were Renaissance Re, ACE Limited and XL Capital, according to Prudential analyst Jay Gelb.

A direct hit on the most populated areas of Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg could reportedly cause insured losses exceeding $10 billion, based on the storm?s anticipated strength, according to Risk Management Solutions, which creates estimates using computers.

AIR Worldwide, a Boston-based catastrophe-modelling and weather-risk management company, calculated that the Tampa/St. Petersburg area would be the third most expensive place in the United States for a hurricane to strike after Miami and New York City.

According to AIR?s worst-case scenario, which it defines as the most severe storm in every 1,000 years to strike a particular location, if a major hurricane (a Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) was to make land in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area, it could cause $25 billion of insured losses.

But if Charley hits Florida further north, where the population is comparatively sparse and real estate values are lower, it may be a $1 billion event, Kyle Beatty of RMS said.

Among the publically-traded insurers most exposed to losses in the region are Allstate Corp. and RenaissanceRe, according to Mr. Gelb?s research report.

Some companies that are more moderately exposed were XL Capital, ACE Limited and other US insurers including St Paul Travelers Companies Inc. Chubb Corp., Progressive Corp., Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. and American International Group Inc.

The most costly hurricane ever was Hurricane Andrew, in 1992, which caused $20.3 billion in damage when adjusted for 2003 dollars, according to the Insurance Services Office. But the report said historical statistics can be misleading because they do not account for rising real estate values over time.

Hurricane Andrew was the catalyst behind a wave of property-catastrophe reinsurers to set up in Bermuda in 1993, including Renaissance Re ? which reportedly could have high exposures if Charley was to cause significant damage.