Damage caused by Hurricane Irma on French islands in the Caribbean is estimated to be "much higher" than 200 million euros ($240 million), a state insurance group said on Friday.

Bertrand Labilloy, head of the Caisse Centrale de Reassurance (CCR) which specialises in natural disasters, said hurricanes typically caused around 100-200 million euros worth of damage on the French islands.

"But Irma is much more powerful... so you should expect the figure to be much higher than this," he told the CNews channel.