From Insurance Journal:
Last year’s devastating hurricane season produced a $4.2 billion underwriting loss in 2005 for property/casualty insurers. According to Weiss Ratings Inc., the loss erased the record underwriting profit of $6.4 billion reported by the industry in 2004.
The article goes on to mention that the underwriting losses were offset somewhat by impovements on investment returns, and the cost-shifting of some of the hurricane burden to reinsurers.