document: US CITIES along the Gulf of Mexico from Alabama to eastern Texas were on storm watch last night as Hurricane Andrew headed west after sweeping across southern Florida , causing at least eight deaths and severe property damage . The hurricane was one of the fiercest in the US in decades and the first to hit Miami directly in a quarter of a century . In the Bahamas , government spokesman Mr Jimmy Curry said four deaths had been reported on outlying eastern islands . Mr Justin Balcombe , of UK-based insurance adjuster Balcombe Group , said total losses could exceed Dollars 15bn if business interruption claims were taken into account . That compares with the Dollars 4bn-Dollars 6n -LRB- Pounds 2.1bn-Pounds 3.1 bn -RRB- of insurance industry losses caused by the last big US hurricane , Hugo , which hit South Carolina in 1989 . The brunt of the losses are likely to be concentrated among US insurers , industry analysts said yesterday . Mr George Lloyd-Roberts , chairman of Lloyd 's Underwriters ' Non-Marine Association , said that , unless damage claims exceeded Pounds 3bn , the Lloyd 's insurance market would feel little impact . Because the reinsurance of reinsurance risk - known as the retrocession market - has shrunk considerably in recent years , US insurers have placed far fewer of their risks through Lloyd 's . Mr Roger Hill , insurance analyst at Warburg Securities , said he estimated that mainline UK insurers faced no more than Pounds 75m in damage claims so far . ` At the moment we are relaxed about it , ' he said . The real question , he added , is the level of reinsurance available to the UK underwriters . Royal Insurance estimated the company 's losses at no more than Pounds 20m . Among other UK insurers , Mr Hill estimated that General Accident may face losses of up to Pounds 30m , while Guardian Royal Exchange faced Pounds 5m and Sun Alliance and Commercial Union Pounds 10m each . However , Hurricane Andrew gathered fresh strength as it moved across the Gulf of Mexico and there was concern last night that it might head towards New Orleans , which is especially low lying and could suffer severe flood damage . Scientists said the storm could make landfall anywhere between the Alabama port of Mobile and the Louisiana-Texas border , probably tomorrow night or early Thursday . It could threaten the large concentration of offshore oil production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico . Shell Oil was evacuating most of the 900 workers on its offshore platforms as a precaution . A substantial part of America 's oil refining industry is concentrated on the Gulf coast , in Louisiana and Texas , and officials there were reviewing emergency plans to curtail or shut down plant operations . Andrew , the first Caribbean hurricane of the season , hit the eastern coast of Florida early yesterday , gusting up to 165mph . It ripped roofs off houses , smashed cars and trucks , snapped power lines and uprooted trees before heading out over the Gulf . A million people had been ordered to flee their homes in southern Florida as the hurricane moved in from the Bahamas on Sunday . The Florida Power and Light company said that about 1.2 m of its customers , or 32 per cent , were without power . Some of the strongest winds were in the affluent suburb of Coral Gables , just south of Miami , where the National Hurricane Center is located . Its radar and satellite antennae were blown away . President Bush authorised federal disaster assistance for the affected areas and made plans for an inspection tour of the state . Picture , Page 14
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