Gustav's cost could be $10 billion

BEAUMONT, TEXAS - Residential and commercial insurance claims could total $4 billion to $10 billion. More than a million customers, including some refineries, lack electricity. And retailers are gearing up for a burst of sales once residents who fled the Gulf Coast return.

Snapshots of Hurricane Gustav's economic effect revealed Tuesday that the storm was hardly as damaging as feared -- particularly for the region's vast network of energy facilities. But it will be days, if not weeks, before business as usual returns.

Although Gustav's force paled in comparison with Hurricane Katrina, which cost insurers $41 billion, on Tuesday oil workers, utility crews, fishermen and other business owners fanned out across the Gulf Coast to assess damage and make preparations to restart operations.

Outside a Lowe's in Houma, La., 34-year-old sales manager Britt Coyle said there was only minor damage to the store, which he expected to be open today to sell chainsaws, generators and other necessities to residents returning home.

At the nearby Jolly Inn restaurant, a diesel generator powered the refrigerator in order to prevent thousands of dollars worth of food from spoiling. Denise Prosperie-Fritch, whose family owns the Jolly Inn and rode out Gustav inside the restaurant, said the business is insured but there's only a day or two of diesel fuel left to keep the food cold.

"We will be addressing our hardest-hit policyholders first," Elizabeth Stelzer, a spokeswoman for Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., said. "Those homes with a tree through a wall, an exposed roof, or other claims in which the home has become uninhabitable, are the priority."

Meanwhile, utilities began dealing with the task of restoring power. Utility giant Entergy Corp. said 826,000 customers, mostly in Louisiana, were without power. A Royal Dutch Shell-owned refinery in Convent lacked power late Tuesday, as did the company's chemical plant in Geismar. The outages also brought down cellular and Internet service in parts of Louisiana.

Mike Voisin, owner of an oyster processing plant in Houma and president of the Louisiana Oyster Task Force, said Louisiana won't be producing oysters for at least a week to 10 days, depending on how quickly officials can ensure that oyster beds were not contaminated by floodwaters carrying bacteria. Similar closures were announced in Alabama and Mississippi as Gustav approached.

Residential and land-based commercial losses, including costs associated with business interruption, were expected to be $3 billion to $7 billion, estimated Risk Management Solutions Inc. of Newark, Calif. The firm estimated damage to oil platforms and wells, as well as production interruption caused by wind and waves, at about $1 billion to $3 billion.

However, preliminary indications were that Gustav caused little physical damage to the region's onshore and offshore energy-production facilities.