Insured losses from Hurricane Earl's rampage across the Caribbean will range from $50 million to $150 million, according to catastrophe modelling experts AIR Worldwide.

The storm, which last night appeared to be heading for North Carolina, caused widespread property damage during its visit to the northern Leeward Islands earlier this week.

In a statement yesaterday, AIR said the estimate included wind damage to insured onshore properties in the Virgin Islands, St. Maarten, St. Martin and Puerto Rico. Nearly half of the total is attributed to St. Maarten where high winds downed trees and power lines, and peeled off roofs and signage.

Dr. Peter Dailey, director of atmospheric science at AIR Worldwide, said:

According to AIR Worldwide, the last major hurricane to make landfall in North Carolina was Hurricane Floyd in 1999. Floyd caused estimated insured losses of $2 billion in 1999 dollars and was the state's deadliest hurricane.

"Earl is currently being impacted by an environment of dryer air from the north and increased shear from a trough of low pressure from the southwest," explained Dr. Dailey. "These conditions will persist for the next day and should limit any further intensification of Earl. However, while some additional decrease in wind speed is possible, Earl should maintain its current intensity as it approaches North Carolina and still be a major hurricane with near 120 mph winds as it passes by that area."

In Anguilla, winds of 80 to 90 mph blew the roofs off buildings and caused damage to many utility poles. Homes were also damaged in Antigua, St. Maarten, and Barbuda. The closest island to Earl's centre was Anegada, in the British Virgin Islands, where a marina sustained significant damage.

It should be noted that AIR's insured loss estimates for this region are for modeled countries only; these are Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, St. Martin and the US Virgin Islands. AIR estimates that 40 to 50 percent of losses are from St. Maarten.