Tornados and hailstorms that struck the Midwest creating a wide area of destruction this past weekend have generated thousands of claims for insurers.

The top two insurers in the worst-hit states of Missouri and Kansas report auto and homeowners claims of well over 20,000 in the two states and higher than 50,000 for the region.

Dave Dasgupta, a spokesman for Jersey City, N.J.-based Insurance Services Office, said Property Claim Services, a subsidiary of ISO, has declared the storm events from March 11-13 in the four-state region of Missouri, Kansas, Illinois and Indiana a catastrophe.

PCS defines a catastrophe as an event of at least $25 million in insured property loss involving a significant number of insurers and policyholders.

It will be at least two weeks before any monetary amount is reported, he said.

The killer storms that cut through a wide area of the Midwest did the worst damage in Missouri on Sunday where tornado and hailstorms took the lives of at least 9 people and injured 96, according to a statement from Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt's office.

Mr. Blunt has declared a state of emergency throughout Missouri, calling out the National Guard and seeking disaster declaration aid from the federal government.

The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center said that during the three-day period, there were 137 tornado sightings and 621 hailstorms through the region, primarily hitting Missouri and Kansas. However, a spokesman for the Weather Service said those figures are subject to reduction as data is verified and duplication eliminated.

Pia Lindell, a spokeswoman for Bloomington, Ill.-based State Farm Insurance Companies, said figures for the states of Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Illinois and Indiana currently total 34,000 auto and 17,700 homeowner claims.

She said the company has brought in added claims staff and the claims being reported have peaked, but more were expected to trickle in over the next few days.

Chicago was hit with hail and strong winds, said Missy Lundberg, a State Farm spokeswoman, causing some damage, but harder hit was Springfield, Ill., which saw a couple of twisters touch down. She said 6,000 people remain without power today and a number of businesses were destroyed.

Steve Witmer, a spokesman for Madison, Wis.-based American Family Insurance, the number two personal lines insurer in Missouri and Kansas, said the company has had at least 15,000 homeowners and auto claims through the regions hit by the weekend storms.

“We are mobilizing resources and getting the job done,” he said of the claims management. “The storms hit a wide area and this is a challenge, but this is what we exist for on behalf of our customers.”

Rick Prather, president of Fred Vogel Insurance Inc., an independent agency in Jefferson City, Mo., said the bulk of the claims were reported between Monday and Tuesday, primarily auto. He said this is the worst storm he has seen in the middle of Missouri in 10 years.

Carriers are doing the best they can to respond to claims, he added, though there is frustration among some that the response is not quick enough.

“For the most part, clients are understanding,” he said, “but this is a process that we will be going through for up to a year. Some [policyholders] do not realize they have damage for weeks until they discover a leak in the roof.”

In Kansas, which suffered from extensive hailstorms, there was significant tree and structural damage, said Van Ewart, a crop insurance agent with Millard Management in Lawrence, Kan. He said the campus of the University of Kansas suffered millions of dollars of damage.

Mr. Ewart said one farmer, while on his way to church, checked a scale on his farm and recorded a weight of 1,600 lbs. of hail. By the time the farmer returned home the hail had melted.

Special Reports /

Midwest Storms Brings Thousands Of Claims

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