Atleast the executives at risk manager and insurer Aon understandwhat the victims of Hurricane Sandy are going through. Aon'sbuilding in lower Manhattan was taken out by the storm as the aptlynamed Water Street location was swamped by Sandy's 12-foot stormsurge.

“It's a good thing Aon is a big company with offices in NewJersey, Chicago and Boston,” says Rick Miller, chief brokingofficer at Aon Risk Solutions' U.S. property practice, speakingfrom a dry Aon office in Boston. “There are a lot of companies inlower Manhattan where their whole business was in one building thathad to be closed down because of the flooding.”

Estimates of insured losses from the huge late-season tropicalstorm are likely to pass $20 billion, while the overall impactreportedly could top $50 billion, meaning a huge portion of thelosses will not be covered by insurance. A fair share of both theinsured losses and the uncovered losses, Miller says, will involvebusiness interruption, or BI.