Countrywide Financial Corp. on Monday warned that its losses from Hurricane Katrina will likely exceed the $70 million in hurricane losses it reported last year.

The Calabasas-based mortgage lender said its principal sources of exposure are expected to relate to insurance operations, residuals and loans held for investment.

The company is still assessing the impact of the storm on its businesses, assets and operations, and said that inspectors haven’t yet gained access to all of the affected properties. Countrywide said it is well-positioned to effectively manage the consequences of Katrina.

Countrywide also released operational data for August. The company said its mortgage loan fundings for August climbed to a record $53 billion, up 71 percent from a year earlier. Year-to-date mortgage-loan fundings were $309 billion. Its mortgage loan servicing portfolio exceeded $1 trillion as of the end of August, up 33 percent from the year-ago period.

Average daily mortgage loan application activity in August was $3.2 billion, 54 percent higher than in August 2004. The company’s mortgage loan pipeline increased by 56 percent from a year ago to $78 billion at Aug. 31, marking its second highest level. Total assets at Countrywide Bank rose 135 percent to $73 billion from the comparable year-earlier period.

Countrywide shares were up 3.5 percent to $35.89 in mid-afternoon trading on Monday.