Hurricane Fabian, which lashed Bermuda on Friday with winds as high as 140 miles per hour, will likely cost the Island's insurers between $300 million and $350 million, according to a preliminary study obtained by Bloomberg News.

The insured losses would be the highest ever for Bermuda and about seven times the cost of Hurricane Emily in 1987, the second biggest storm, according to the study by AIR Worldwide Corp., which made a computer model of the damage using National Hurricane Centre information and a database of the Island's properties.

The estimate is based on the model and not actual claims.

"This was a very intense storm. Hotels have taken quite a hit,'' said Atul Khanduri, manager of wind engineering at Boston-based AIR Worldwide, who said he's begun to compile some damage information.

"To get a general damage report it takes a couple of days.

"`Due to the size of the losses, reinsurance companies such as Lloyd's of London and PartnerRe Ltd. will likely pay for some of the damage, said Wachovia Securities Inc. analyst Susan Spivak in a research note.

Local insurers, including Argus Insurance Co. Ltd. and BF&M Ltd., will probably receive the most claims, then pass some of the costs to the reinsurers, she said.

"We do have some exposure to the domestic market companies in Bermuda,'' said Celia Powell, a spokesman for PartnerRe, which is based on the island. PartnerRe won't know its liability until the primary insurers complete their damage estimates, she said.

London spokeswoman Melanie Batley said the insurer was "monitoring the situation closely."

However, the damage inflicted on the Island by Hurricane Fabian does not appear to be as bad as first feared, according to one of Bermuda's top insurance companies.

Argus Insurance's head of property and casualty insurance, Larry Osborne, said that they had been worried that the damage inflicted by a category three hurricane would be worse than it was. "I was a little surprised at the damage," said Mr. Osborne. "The damage was not as severe as we had thought."

And he attributed the lack of damage to the Island having good notice of the coming storm and to fair weather following the storm which meant there was less water damage caused by rainfall.

"Of course it is all put in perspective when we talk about the loss of life," said Mr. Osborne. "Losing a boat or even a home is put in perspective when we find out someone has lost a loved one."

Mr. Osborne said that they had already logged a few hundred claims and seen about 100 of the damaged properties. The largest loss suffered by someone insured by Argus was a "retail property" on the "waterfront". But he declined to say whether it was Micky's or Cafe Lido.

"We have run the whole gamut of what could happen, to houses that may not survive, to some with their roofs off, to ones with the contents damaged by water. We also have small claims for windows blown in," he said.

He said the majority of claims were due to damage inflicted by the sea surge, and not to the high winds.

But he said they had surprisingly few marine claims despite reports of high numbers of boats being reported on the rocks.

"I can remember the names of almost all the boats we have had called in," he said, adding that many had been reported missing. He said had heard about a boat that had been missing, and had been found under another boat that had been grounded.

He said the two properties to sustain the biggest damage, the Sonesta and the Fairmont Southampton, were not insured in Bermuda, so were not on any of the local companies' lists of insured properties.

He added that he did not think that the figure of $350 million for the bill for Fabian was accurate - stating that it was too early to say, and said that the figure would be lower than that.

But he said that in the next few days he would be able to more accurately assess the damage and the total figure could be better estimated.

Glenn Titterton, the chief executive officer of BF&M also said it was too early to put a figure on the final cost of Fabian.

"We are now at over 800 claims and I doubt that we are half way there, have a lot further to go," he said. "We are working flat out all day with at times between 45 and 50 people on the road. There is a lot of damage out there and we are trying to see it within 36 hours and trying to get a contractor and builder.

But he said there was a severe shortage of builders and contractors and a sever shortage of stone slate which would hinder the process of rebuilding.

And he said that this could put the final bill up as more properties could sustain more water damage if their roofs are not repaired quickly before more bad weather hits.