Most Americans believe severely damaging weather isbecoming more frequent in the U.S. today, but may overestimatetheir preparedness to deal with the damage, shows a study surveyingthe public on what it perceives as their most relevantrisks.

“Nearly two out of every three American homes (59 percent) areunderinsured as homeowners and, on average, have only enoughinsurance to pay for 78 percent of costs to replace or rebuildtheir homes,” says Pat Gee, senior vice president of catastropheresponse at Travelers, citing Marshall & Swift/Boeckh LLC, aleading provider of building replacement cost data.

In a survey of 806 adults polled by Travelers,70 percent of respondents believe severely damaging weather isbecoming more frequent across the U.S., and 30 percent say this iscausing a greater likelihood of damage to property in theirarea.

People in every region of the U.S. felt severe weather isincreasing locally: 21 percent of respondents in the West, 30percent in the Midwest, 39 percent in the South, and 36 percent inthe Northeast.

When it came to concern about extreme natural disasters in theiroverall region, Southerners are sounding the loudest call (55percent) followed by Midwesterners (40 percent) and those living inthe Northeast (39 percent) and the West (34 percent).

The concerned individuals were concentrated in tornado alley,hurricane zones, blizzard states, and regions with risk of brushfires.

In some cases, those fears can be constructive: Nearly 90percent of respondents feel their home is properly insured againstnatural disasters, while 93 report the same for their automobilecoverage. And 57 percent of people say that they store extrasupplies in case of severe weather while half have a disaster planin place for their family.

However, buying flood insurance to cover damage not included inhomeowner policies is one of the steps consumers take leastfrequently to prepare for catastrophes (22 percent).

Travelers reports 63 percent of Americans believe the worldis becoming a risky place in all aspects: the top risks of 2013, asranked by consumers, are: finance, identity theft, serious healthproblems, personal safety and extreme weather.

Gee says that “many of today's most worrisome risks did notexist half a generation ago,” including the entirely newrisk of distracted driving. However, insurers may need to givetheir clients a wake-up call about realisticallymanaging concerns over personal safety. Only 31 percent ofconsumer respondents worry that their own use of a mobile devicewhile driving could cause an accident.