Severe weather over the Mother's Day weekend spurned a number of killer tornadoes that could qualify for the Insurance Services Office catastrophe designation, the firm said today.

Gary Kerney, assistant vice president for Property Claim Service, a subsidiary of Jersey City, N.J.-based ISO, said today in an e-mail that the company is currently examining the weekend storms in all the affected states.

"We will likely be assigning a serial number to the recent tornadoes but are currently gathering information from other states such as Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas and Georgia in order to clearly assess all of the severe weather situations."

PCS rates an event as a catastrophe when it impacts a significant number of insureds and inflicts $25 million in damage.

The weekend storm front over the Midwest destroyed homes, knocked out power and reportedly killed as many as 21 people throughout the region.

In terms of fatalities, the worst hit was Missouri, where the state's Emergency Management Agency reported at least 14 people died in the southwest portion of the state. Barry County appeared to be the hardest hit with up to 175 buildings affected by tornadoes and a dozen destroyed. Most of the deaths occurred in Newton County, where 12 died.

Oklahoma reported six deaths and more than 150 injuries from a tornado Saturday in Ottawa County, according to the governor's office.

In Arkansas, Tommy Jackson, spokesman for the state's Department of Emergency Services, said there were nine injuries and no fatalities reported so far, but close to 100 homes and business were damaged from the storm, with between 25 and 30 homes experiencing major damage.

The state has experienced 45 tornadoes since Jan 8, he said.

The Georgia Emergency Management Agency said on its Web site that one person died during the storms that affected six counties. It said hundreds of homes and public buildings were damaged across the state.

"This spring we have witnessed a number of intense storms, and Mother's Day weekend was no exception," said former Gov. Marc Racicot, president of the American Insurance Association. "Few measures can provide any consolation to the victims of these tornadoes, but the insurance industry vows to do its part by assisting the residents in picking up the pieces."

Mike Siemienas, a spokesman for Allstate, said the company has teams of adjusters on the ground helping customers, and there are plenty more available if needed. While the process is still in the early stages, he said the worst hit area appears to be in the Macon, Ga., region of the state.

Jerry Davies, a spokesman with Farmers Insurance Group, said the company had deployed mobile units that can assist with communication and the filing of customer claims. It was too early to give any claims figures, he said.

According to ISO, the first quarter of this year has experienced the heaviest losses in the past 10 years with insured losses of $3.35 billion from nine catastrophe events. The next costliest was 2005 with $2.14 billion.

The costliest event in this past quarter was the $955 million loss from severe weather from Texas to Ohio in early February. That event affected eight states.

(This story was updated on May 13 at 2:17 p.m.)

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