TALLAHASSEE -- Hurricane Helene could cause $3 billion to $6 billion in private insurance losses and as much as $1 billion in losses in federal flood insurance and crop-insurance programs, according to an analysis Wednesday by the global reinsurance broker Gallagher Re.

Hurricane Helene could cause billions in insurance losses and as much as $1 billion in losses in federal flood-insurance and crop-insurance programs.

An analysis suggests that Helene’s private insurance market losses could land in the range of $3 billion to $6 billion. Additional federal losses could approach $1 billion.

Hurricane Helene is expected to make landfall on Thursday night in the Florida Panhandle. But its not the first storm with the same name.

Millions across the southeastern United States are reeling after Hurricane Helene roared ashore overnight. Now a tropical storm, Helene made landfall late Thursday on Florida’s Big Bend as a Category 4 hurricane – the strongest on record to strike the area.

Hurricane Helene roared ashore in a sparsely populated region of Florida as a powerful Category 4 storm, peeling the siding off buildings, trapping residents in rising floodwaters and knocking out power to millions of customers.