Damage claims from Hurricane Fabian continue to climb and may soar as high as $125 million, local insurers said yesterday.

But even that estimate does not take into account major damages sustained to Government properties, the Fairmont Hotels and other large tourist properties so the overall figure could be higher, The Royal Gazette was told.

"Estimating total numbers of claims is something of a moving target," said BF&M president and CEO Glenn Titterton. "Insurers receive a huge deluge of claims daily in the initial period following a hurricane and this number of daily claims slowly tails off. At this point claims are still coming in, albeit at a much slower pace - so the number could still increase. The opposite is also true. (For example) a review of initial notifications soon establishes that a fair number of reports that were initially thought to represent legitimate claims, do not turn out to be claims at all.

"At today's date, my estimate of the total number of claims submitted to the Bermuda direct insurance market is between 4,250 and 4,500."

While his estimate of the gross claims submitted to the Bermuda direct insurance market to date "is between $110 million and $125 million," he added.

But, Mr. Titterton said estimates tended to be conservative and the total could be lower after claims were checked and processed.

"I would urge the media and the public to be careful also when talking about the total cost," he said. "Insurers are busy initially in placing gross estimates on all their reported losses - these are gross numbers before subtracting deductibles.

"There is a tendency to be very conservative which means that estimates are likely to err on the high side.

"Later, as real estimates are obtained from builders/contractors numbers become increasingly more realistic. Then, the more claims that are actually paid (i.e. settled), the more 'real' the total estimates become.

"We are not yet at that stage and numbers are still unreliable."

The category three Fabian, which ripped through Bermuda on September 5, caused extensive damages to Island homes, cars and boats.

A great number of homes had their roofs ripped away by the storm, while vehicles were flipped on their sides.

Local boat repair yards told The Royal Gazette this week they were overflowing and had been processing claims by the hundreds since Fabian.

Mr. Titterton told The Royal Gazette he restricted his estimate to damages such as these, related specifically to the local market. "I have referred to the Bermuda direct insurance market," he said. "This consists of the risks insured in Bermuda through local insurance companies and agencies for foreign insurers.

"It is very important to note however, that there are risks insured outside Bermuda for which no estimate has been included - this includes risks such as the Bermuda Government, Fairmont Hotels and Elbow Beach.

"The losses on these accounts could be substantial but I have no first hand information which would permit e to make a sensible estimate of these losses."

Mr. Titterton shied away from predicting how many claims might yet come in for Fabian damages, however.

"I wish to stress that I have not endeavoured to guess at the number or amount of claims still to be reported or the amount by which initial estimates may be reduced when 'actual' bills are paid or indeed the amount by which gross estimates will be reduced by deductibles," he said.

"I do wish to stress that any estimates as to the total number or value of Fabian losses should be considered with great care."