NU Online News Service, March 16, 10:50 p.m.EDT

More than 100 homes were damaged yesterday as three tornadoestouched down in Michigan, but there were no fatalitiesreported.

The Detroit Free Press reports that at least 50 homes were damaged inDexter, Mich., as roofs were torn off of homes.

The Associated Press put the figure of damaged homes atover 100.

The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center says itreceived numerous reports of tornado touchdowns in three locationsin Michigan near the towns of Dexter, in Washtenaw County; Ida inMonroe County; and Columbiaville in Lapeer County.

The SSP says Dexter was the worst damaged area, report 100 homes damaged and 13 ofwhich were significantly damaged. The other locations had reportsof damage to trees and power lines.

Reports say the storm outbreak occurred around 5:30 p.m. CDT and6:00 p.m. CDT yesterday.

A spokesperson for State Farm says in an e-mail that the companycurrently has 102 homeowners claims and 105 auto claims from thetornadoes and hail that hit the state yesterday. The hardesthit area was Dexter, where the company has 18 claims forsevere damage and one claim for uninhabitable structure. Thecompany had claims representatives on the ground almost immediatelyafter the Dexter tornado.

Gary Kerney, assistant vice president of PCS at InsuranceServices Office in Jersey City, N.J. issued a statement saying,“PCS has not issued a catastrophe serial number at this time. PCS staff is evaluating the extent of insured damage. There arereports of severe weather in a number of states in addition toMichigan, mostly regarding damaging wind and hail.”

PCS classifies a catastrophe as any insurance-loss event of atleast $25 million and affecting a significant number ofpolicyholders and insurers.

Catastrophe modeler AIR-Worldwide says in a statement that thestorms did not impact a “highly populated area; therefore damageshould not be widespread.”

Neena Saith, director of catastrophe response for catastrophemodeler RMS says in a statement, “This activity is linked to thecombination of record warm temperatures in the region and a surgeof moisture from the south. Tornado activity at this time ofyear in Michigan is unusual and there have only been 10 tornadoesreported in southeast Michigan before April 1,” based on recordsdating back to 1950.

Jose Miranda, EQECAT's director of client advocacy, sayspreliminary weather service reports classify the tornado thatstruck Dexter as an EF3 with winds around 130 mph, leaving a 10mile long path of destruction. He says 13 to 15 homes were totallydestroyed and National Weather Service officials will be at thesite today to confirm preliminary reports.

He says while the insurance losses are not known at this time,he estimates it will not be anywhere near the billions in dollarsin losses seen earlier this month, and the insured loss damagewould be somewhere in the low millions of dollars.

When asked if the tornado events of last year and early thisyear would have any impact on catastrophe models, he says theywould not. While the number of tornadoes counted has increased overthe years, frequency has not. The combination of better technology,more tornado spotters, and increased population density are allcontributing to the growing number of sightings. There is notscientific reason for altering the models at this time.

This story was updated at 4:40 p.m. EDT with comments fromState Farm and catastrophe modelers.