Hurricane Dennis – the first and the most serious hurricane to hit the Gulf of Mexico this year – could land the insurance industry with a bill of up to $US8 billion, according to leading international risk management and information services company Eqecat. 

Dennis came ashore east of Pensacola, Florida, on Sunday and was registered as a category three storm with winds of 120mph.

So far analysts are predicting Dennis could cost the industry as much, or even more than the Florida hurricanes that ravaged the US last year. The most severe – Charley and Ivan – cost insurers $US7.5 billion and $US7.1 billion respectively.

“We are bracing for another very active Atlantic hurricane season,” Gerry Bell, lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Prediction Centre said. “In fact, current conditions have already become favourable for hurricane activity in the Caribbean Sea, as we saw with Hurricane Dennis.”