Bad weather across the U.S has been widely reported all year and has included hail storms, tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, and wildfires. Some of the impacts of these storms are coming to fruition as insurers like Travelers and Allstate begin reporting their second-quarter financials.

Hit by severe weather events such as tornadoes and hail storms in various regions of the U.S., Travelers reported that its 2008 second-quarter losses reached $231 million after-tax ($356 million pre-tax). Compared to the same quarter last year, in which the company paid out $26 million after-tax ($40 million pre-tax), that's an increase of gargantuan proportion: more than 780 percent. However, the company reported that it was able to offset the results by through its investment portfolio.

"We experienced another quarter of solid underwriting performance, as evidenced by our 89 percent combined ratio, which included 9.8 points of net favorable prior year reserve development and 6.6 points of catastrophe losses," said Jay Fishman, chairman and CEO, in a release. "Our diversified, high-quality investment portfolio continued to deliver impressive results, although at a lower level than in the prior year quarter. In addition, impairments continued to be negligible. While the marketplace remains competitive, it is consistent with the expectations we had coming into the year."