According to AIR Worldwide in Oakland, California, the insured damages from Wilma could run six billion to nine billion dollars, while Risk Management Solutions in Newark, California put the high-end estimate at ten billion dollars.

Boston-based insurance risk modeler Eqecat, however, set the damages at four billion to eight billion dollars.

Eqecat's lower estimate did not include damage to marine assets such as boats and offshore platforms, or private and commercial vehicles. Nor did it include commercial flooding.

Wilma swept through hurricane-weary southern Florida Monday, blasting 200 kilometer (125 mile) per hour winds and causing widespread flooding.

The damage costs from Wilma will be much less than those from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which devastated the US Gulf of Mexico coast in August and September, said an AIR Worldwide official.

"The building code in south Florida is the most stringent in the US and far more rigorous than in parts of the Gulf coast affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita," said Jayanta Guin, AIR's vice president for research and modeling.

AIR estimated damages from Katrina at 44 billion dollars, though the number was uncertain due to questions over how much flood-related damage was covered by insurance.

Florida also benefited from Wilma's forward speed as it crossed Florida much faster than the earlier storms, AIR Worldwide said.

On Friday and Saturday Wilma virtually stalled as it passed over Cancun and other famous Mexican Yucatan peninsula resorts, dumping more than one meter (three feet) of rain in some areas.

German reinsurance giant Munich Re has estimated that hurricanes Katrina and Rita could cost the global insurance industry up to 40 billion dollarsbillion euros).

Eqecat put damages in the Yucatan area at between one billion and three billion dollars.