Charley survivors await aid as cost hits €17bn
At least 17 people were killed by the storm in Florida and Munich Re, the world’s largest re-insurer, estimated the total value of damage at about €17 billion. It said insured losses could be as high as €11bn.
Earlier, Charley killed four people in Cuba and one in Jamaica.
Nearly one million people remained without power, and officials said it could take weeks to get it fully restored. Some 2,300 people were in emergency shelters, and Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown said 11,000 have already applied for disaster aid.
He said it could take weeks to find all the victims and officials still did not know how many people were unaccounted for. The search was slow in some areas because downed power lines and debris were making the search dangerous.
Officials said early estimates of hundreds of missing people could be inflated by erroneous reports made by worried relatives and friends.
