NU Online News Service, March 9, 12:04 p.m.EST

The damages in Henryville, Ind. are beyond visual.

“It's hard to explain,” says Daniel E. Stone, president andchief executive of Indiana Farmers Mutual Insurance Co. in aninterview. “You hear about heirlooms and memories lost. People havespent their entire lives here.

“The school they went to is gone. The church where theyworshipped is gone.”

Stone visited the small town and its surrounding areafollowing a destructive tornado March 2.

Henryville was nearly flattened by the storm. Thirty-nine peopledied and thousands were left homeless.

Stone says he heard numerous stories from policyholders as theyvisited the neighborhood Indiana Farmers Mutual agency, withoutheat and powered by a generator to keep the phones working.

“Someone said their sister and brother-in-law were actuallypulled up into the tornado and then released,” Stone says. “They'rein the hospital now, recovering.”

The mobile home they lived in was reduced to scattered debris,he adds.

“It's heart-wrenching,” Stone says. “You can't find the rightwords. This is the business we're in and it's our opportunity tofulfill a promise we made to them, but you come to find that's theeasiest thing you can do.

“This isn't just about property damage.”

Indiana Farmers Mutual had fielded more than 720 claims and paidout about $4.6 million as of late March 8, Stone says.

The company will retain the first $6 million in losses beforereinsurance kicks in, adds the chief executive of the Indiana-onlyinsurer.

“What impresses you is the selflessness,” he says. “We've hadpeople come up and say, 'We just lost our roof. They losteverything. Take care of them first.'”

Stone says one advantage to being such a local insurer isresponse time. The insurer had people—employees and in some cases,their spouses—on the ground immediately.

Saturday morning when Stone took a very early trip to theoffice, his executive team was already there waiting, planning.

“If you take a poll of our workforce, most people have spentmost, if not all, of their lives in Indiana,” Stone says. “This iswhere we live. These are our neighbors.”