As noted previously, Hurricane Katrina seems unlikely to trigger any catastrophe bonds to pay out. Hurricane Rita could be different:

"Cat bonds have been largely untested until these hurricanes in the U.S., so the industry will be watching Rita very carefully," said Rene Cotting, a specialist in insurance-linked securities at ABN AMRO. "It’s possible some bonds will get hit."
— Catastrophe bonds face test with Rita Fri Sep 23, 2005 11:22 AM ET By David Wigan LONDON (Reuters)

The story offers some interesting detail about non-parametric bonds losing a third of their value after Katrina, while parametric ones (based on wind speed, storm strength, or other parameters) lost only a few percent. Yet none of them have paid out.

The story includes an estimate from Swiss Re of $6.1 billion total catastrophe bonds.

-jsq