Bermuda's property insurers are breathing a sigh of relief after seeing virtually no claims resulting from the Island's brush with Hurricane Bill last weekend.

BF&M Ltd. chief executive officer John Wight said his company had received no claims related to the storm, which passed within 200 miles of Bermuda on Saturday, bringing hurricane-force gusts.

Argus Group Holdings Ltd.'s executive vice-president of property and casualty operations, David Crowhurst, said that two claims had come in by yesterday afternoon, but that he expected them to be relatively minor.

Both insurers believe that residents and businesses have learned the harsh lessons of the direct hit from Hurricane Fabian six years ago and were well prepared for Bill.

Insured losses from Fabian totalled more than $200 million, according to industry sources. More than half of those claims were dealt with by local insurers, who are in turn partly covered by reinsurers.

"Fabian is recent enough to still be fresh in people's minds and they did a very good job of protecting their assets when it became clear that Bill was heading our way," Mr. Wight said.

"Fortunately the hurricane stayed far enough away to ensure that the winds were of limited strength.

"BF&M is the largest insurer of residential and commercial property on the Island, but we had no claims up to this morning. We had our people in the offices on Saturday, in the event that our customers needed us. But not a single call was taken."

He added that Fabian had taught the Island much about the need for hurricane preparedness and that residents had done a good job of safeguarding their homes, vehicles and boats during Bill's approach. But he cautioned that the hurricane season is still in its early stages.

Since the huge payouts sparked by Fabian, local property insurers, including BF&M, Argus and Freisenbruch-Meyer, have got off lightly on storm claims.

"We've had a couple of close calls since 2003, but we've avoided the kind of catastrophe claims seen in some other islands to our south," Mr. Wight said.

Mr. Crowhurst said that the two claims to Argus that he was aware of yesterday were for commercial premises, but he said further claims could come in, especially from policyholders who have been off the Island.

However, he added that the amount of damage suffered had been low as "the wind speeds were relatively modest and there was not a large amount of rainfall".

Mr. Crowhurst added that the high level of roof maintenance that is the norm in Bermuda was a major factor in avoiding damage. Roof damage is a common source of insurance claims from high winds elsewhere.

"We've had no boat claims so far and it's clear that more care is being taken," Mr. Crowhurst said. "I was at Dockyard on Sunday and I saw that a large number of boats had been taken out of the water and parked on land."

The Island had done well in terms of preparation for the storm, he added. But he cautioned that the hurricane season still had a long way to run and that residents should guard against complacency.

"Lessons definitely have been learned throughout the community," Mr. Crowhurst said. "And not just property owners, but also Government, the EMO (Emergency Measures Organisation), employers and insurers. Precautions are being more readily taken all around.

"The last thing we would want to happen is for complacency to set in. It's early in the hurricane season and September tends to be a more significant month for Bermuda historically.

"We all know how unpredictable extreme weather is and people should always understand the sheer power of the weather."