CHICAGO - Insured losses from Hurricane Charley could total $10 billion to $14 billion, according to industry estimates released Monday as insurers fielded thousands of claims from hard-hit Florida residents.

Home, auto and commercial insurers sent teams to assess the damage and were taking claims at temporary centers set up at venues ranging from Wal-Marts to the Daytona International Speedway.

Insurance companies face losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars from Hurricane Charley, which killed at least 17 people and led to 25 counties being declared federal disaster areas.

The blow for both insurers and their customers is expected to be cushioned by the multibillion-dollar Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, which the state established after Hurricane Andrew battered the region in 1992. Andrew's damage drained insurers' cash reserves, raised premiums sharply and drove some companies out of the Florida market or out of business altogether.

Munich Re, the world's largest reinsurer, estimated the total value of damage caused by Charley at about $20 billion and put total losses covered by insurance at between $7 billion and $14 billion. Munich Re estimated its own exposure to be in "the low three-digit-million dollar range," spokesman Florian Woest said. Other companies issued lower estimates or said it was premature to estimate with storm damage still being assessed.

Two insurers with the most exposure are State Farm Insurance and Allstate, the nation's biggest personal-lines insurers and the two leading providers of homeowners insurance in the worst-hit area.

State Farm said its losses would be limited to no more than $200 million because of Florida's hurricane fund and reinsurance contracts.

Robert Glasspiegel, an analyst for Langen McAlenney in Hartford, Conn., said conditions are very different from 12 years ago.

"When Andrew hit, the industry was already badly unprofitable and that put them over a cliff," he said. "Absent another event, I really don't see rates dramatically changing. It may stop the potential for rate cuts."

Allstate spokesman Mike Trevino said it's too early to talk about a possible impact on rates. But, he added: "The likelihood that any single event would have an effect on rates is small."

State Farm, Florida's largest home insurer, has about 23 percent of the residential market in hardest-hit Charlotte County. The company had received 35,047 homeowners' claims and 4,250 auto claims as of Monday afternoon, spokesman Kip Diggs said.

Neither State Farm nor Allstate would project the total number of claims expected to be filed.

"There are lots of areas that people haven't been able to get into yet, so we're still trying to figure it out," Diggs said. "Our greatest concern is for the safety of the folks down there."