By James McNair
Enquirer staff writer

When hurricanes cause physical damage in the Southeast, they cause fiscal damage in Cincinnati.

Hurricane Frances, a Category 4 storm throwing winds of 140 miles per hour, is taking aim at Florida's Atlantic coast, and four local insurance firms are categorically bracing for the impact on their policyholders - and their profits.

Just three weeks ago, Hurricane Charley slammed Cincinnati Financial Corp., American Financial Group, Midland Co. and Ohio Casualty Corp. for a combined $45 million in estimated damage payouts.

The final tab isn't known, but Charley's tentative $6.8 billion hit makes it the second-costliest hurricane in U.S. history, after 1992's Hurrican Andrew.

Now comes Frances, barreling toward Florida's so-called Treasure Coast. Landfall is expected as early as tonight, and insurance executives are watching from afar.

"You've got one eye on the Weather Channel and one ear on the phone, making sure your regional people are in place and adjusters are ready to move into the affected area to examine homes and write checks for temporary living expenses," said Robert Hartwig, chief economist for the Insurance Information Institute in New York.

Cincinnati Financial, the Fairfield-based parent of Cincinnati Insurance Co., is perhaps the most hurricane-vulnerable of property-and-casualty insurers in the Tristate.

Its early estimate of $25 million in losses from Hurricane Charley left it at about $84 million for the year as of Aug. 23, or a few bad-weather days from its full-year catastrophic-loss target of $90 million to $100 million.

Company CEO John Schiff Jr. said last month that further weather-related losses could force the company to raise those loss estimates.

Spokeswoman Joan Shevchik said Thursday that Hurricane Frances could serve as that trigger.

"It just depends on where it hits and whether we write insurance and have agents there," she said. "It's really hard to speculate."

Cincinnati Financial's biggest loss to a single hurricane occurred in 1989 when Hurricane Hugo plowed into South Carolina.

The loss was $41 million, all but $14 million of which was covered by the company's reinsurance policies.

The state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. insures Florida residents who live along the coast.

The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, formed in 1993, helps offset insurers' losses.

E-mail jmcnair@enquirer.com