Vice President Al Gore was absolutely correct in his first film, "An Inconvenient Truth" regarding hurricanes.

Hurricanes and Tornadoes (click here) James Elsner spoke about changing patterns in hurricanes and tornadoes. He said increasing ocean warmth was making hurricanes stronger and that tornadoes were appearing in bigger and more powerful bunches. Mr. Elsner is the president and CEO of Climatek, a company that develops software for hurricane and tornado risk models that are used by insurance companies to help determine rates.

Fatalities: (directly or indirectly) (click here)
- Alabama: 2
- Florida: 14
- Georgia: 2
- Louisiana: 1,577
- Mississippi: 238
- Total: 1,833
Source: FEMA

Private Insurance Payments: 

Insurance companies have paid an estimated $41.1 billion on 1.7 million different claims for damage to vehicles, homes, and businesses in six states. 63% of the losses occurred in Louisiana and 34% occurred in Mississippi.

Hurricane Katrina is the costliest disaster in the history of the global insurance industry.

By 2007, 99% of the 1.2 million personal property claims had been settled by insurers.