Sandy, the superstorm that made landfall in New Jersey last month, may cost insurers between $16 billion and $22 billion, modeling firm AIR Worldwide said.

The figures compare with an estimate of between $7 billion and $15 billion made on Oct. 30, the day after the storm struck, and reflects higher-than-predicted losses from storm surge, the modeler said in an e-mailed statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Noah Buhayar in New York at nbuhayar@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Kraut at dkraut2@bloomberg.net