Shares of Bermuda-based property and casualty insurance and reinsurance companies joined others in a slide yesterday amid concern that Hurricane Rita could cause as much damage as happened with Hurricane Katrina on the US Gulf Coast last month.

Aspen Holdings fell 2.26 percent to $28.05, PXRE was down 9.86 percent to $15.55 while White Mountains was also down 2.38 percent to $615.01. XL Capital fell 3.07 percent to $66.63 while ACE Ltd. dropped 1.62 percent to $44.05.

IPC Re slid 7.46 percent to $33.86, RenaissanceRe was down 3.96 percent to $43.65 and PartnerRe fell down 5.53 percent to $61.12.

Endurance Specialty slipped almost eight percent to $31.13 with Montpelier Re shares sinking 5.4 percent to $23.89. Arch Capital sild 3.21 percent to $47.37 and Axis declined 4.8 percent to $27.19. ?The industry weathered Katrina, but if Rita comes ashore as a Category 4 or 5 storm, it would cast doubt on the solvency of some of the insurance companies and deplete the surplus capital for others,? Donald Light, an analyst with Celent told Reuters.

After passing over the Florida Keys as a Category 2 storm, Rita picked up considerable strength over the Gulf of Mexico, with maximum sustained winds reaching 165 mph.

Forecasters predict the Category 5 hurricane could make landfall on Saturday.

?The National Hurricane Center is projecting Hurricane Rita to hit the Texas coast Saturday morning with 145 mile-per-hour winds. That would hit the insurance companies again and trigger reinsurance coverage too,? Peter Streit of the Williams Capital Group told Reuters.