NU Online News Service, April 18, 3:04 p.m.EDT

Violent weather from Oklahoma to North Carolina has lefthundreds of homes leveled and about 45 people dead.

Close to 245 tornadoes were reported from the storm system.North Carolina appears to have been the hardest hit.

Gov. Bev Perdue says she “has never seen anything like” thestorm system that destroyed at least 130 homes and damaged 700others, some severely. The governor toured the state on Sunday andtoday tells NBC’s “The Today Show” that the high winds—reportedlyup to 165 mph—razed homes as if they were paper doll houses.Twenty-one are reported dead and she declared a state ofemergency.

Slideshow: View the damage caused in NorthCarolina

NorthCarolina’s largest personal-lines insurers are already handlingthousands of claims, with more coming in every minute.

State Farm, North Carolina’s top writer of homeowners insurance,says it has received more than 1,200 homeowners claims and morethan 450 automobile claims. Much of the damage is very severe.

“I’ve never seen this type of devastation run through as fast asthis,” says State Farm spokeswoman Kim Conyers. “The damage issignificant. It hit everything. It did not discriminate.”

Dozens of reported tornadoes in North Carolina struck ruralareas as well as populated cities like Raleigh.

Not to be lost among the claims numbers, humanitarian efforts byinsurers began not long after the tornadoes swept through. Conyers says an agent in Lumberton was out with a cooler of waterand Gatorade for homeowners.

Nationwide spokeswoman Elizabeth Giannetti says the insurer hasset up five humanitarian stations with essentials like ice, water,diapers, granola bars, paper towels, toilet paper and othersupplies for affected policyholders. The company also made a$350,000 donation to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fundfor tornado victims, with $250,000 designated for NorthCarolina.

Nationwide, the state’s largest personal-lines writer, hasreceived about 1,100 homeowners and about 670 auto claims in NorthCarolina, she adds.

The severe weather from Thursday through Sunday affectedOklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, the Carolinas andVirginia, where the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission was keepingon eye on the Surry nuclear power plant.

Operated by Dominion, the plant lost power Saturday evening whena tornado touched down on an electrical switchyard next to theplant. Both reactors shut down immediately and there was no releaseof radiation beyond that which is associated with normaloperations, Dominion says in a statement.

An offsite power source has been restored, the company adds.

According to Highline Data, the top writers of personal lines(home and auto policies) in North Carolina in 2010 were Nationwidewith a 17.5 percent market share, State Farm (15.8 percent), NorthCarolina Farm Bureau Insurance (11.1 percent), Allstate (9.7percent), and Berkshire Hathaway and USAA (tied with 5.4percent).