To experience firsthand how the insurance industry is respondingto the tornado that took out a large swath of Joplin, Mo. on May22, PC360 went to Joplin and spent the day following agents andcatastrophe claims reps from State Farm Insurance, which was thelargest writer of personal lines in Missouri in 2010, with $1.1billion in direct premiums, according to Highline Data.
|As of June 1, nearly 17,000claims have been filed by Joplin policyholders. The slideshow,which shows images from many different Joplin neighborhoods, givesa sense of the extent and intensity of the damage—and makes clearthat many of those claims will be for homes and auto that are totallosses.
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The devastating Joplin tornado leftmore than 150 dead and 1,000 injured.
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The tornado's path through Joplin wasnearly one-mile wide and seven-miles long, leveling homes inneighborhood after neighborhood.
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Even mega structures, such asSt. John's Mercy Hospital, suffered massive damage.
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Joplin's high school.
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American flags where everywherein Joplin–and flying at half-mast.
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Many survivors left messages on theirhome to let friends and relatives know they had made it through thestorm.
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A destroyed home.
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Smashed cars were scatteredacross the city.
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Thousands of denuded tress stood likestark skeletons on the landscape.
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Homeowners often wrote the name oftheir carrier on their house's exterior walls—if the walls werestill standing.
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Reconstruction has begun ineven the hardest-hit areas.
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The extent and intensity of thedamage was almost beyond description.
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The residential neighborhood near StJohn's Hospital.
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A home in a neighborhood where damagewas considered “less severe”—near where the tornado first toucheddown.
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While this home was destroyed, booksremained neatly arranged on a shelf.
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Personal possessions were blown allover the city.
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Reconstruction has begun.
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Metal wrapped around trees was acommon sight.
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Two close-up views of the damage.
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Some homeowners have decided to leavethe city.
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One of Joplin's main commercialstrips was heavily damaged as well.
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