NU Online News Service, May 21, 2:46 p.m. EDT

As a spokesman for State Farm, Jim Camoriano has worked the aftermaths of hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008, as well as many tornadoes.

“The Joplin tornado was by far the most riveting,” he says. “As I drove through the city, it became apparent that this event was going into the record books.”

State Farm's data does not isolate the vast destruction caused by the EF-5 tornado that devastated Joplin on May 22, 2011 because it started several days of tornadoes in Missouri from May 22-26. During this time the largest writer of home and auto insurance received about 16,500 claims and has paid more than $209 million to policyholders.

The storm system that spawned the tornado in Joplin also caused wind and hail damage in nine other states. Adding these, State Farm has received more than 75,000 claims and paid out more than $601 million.

After the twister in Joplin, it appeared as if “livelihoods were stacked into heaps of brick, wood and glass,” says Camoriano.

American Family Insurance expects to make payments totaling $116 million on 2,400 claims in Joplin. The insurer sponsored an episode of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” to help the community rebuild, says spokesman Ken Muth, who adds that an agent's office in Joplin was demolished. The agent was relocated to another agent's office so he could begin helping customers.

“In this situation, we don't work much from the office anyway,” Muth says. “We're out visiting customers at their homes, or what is left of them. The damage was unbelievable.”

American Family is also sponsoring several events, including a memorial run for the 161 lives lost in the tornado, to mark the one-year anniversary.

Jerry Davies, spokesman for Farmers Insurance, says the event “was beyond belief in the ferocity and velocity of the tornado.”

The insurer set up a mobile claims truck at a local Wal-Mart and an agent got Tyson Foods and another distributor to bring meat and vegetables.

“They set up a cooking area using the agent's home grills and agents and volunteers fed 115,000 people that first weekend, working 16 hours per day,” Davies says.

Camoriano says the image of a child's teddy bear next to an open Bible changed his perception of natural disasters.

“It became an individual event for me, where before it was easy to get caught up in talking simply about x-number of claims,” he explains. It made me ask some tough questions. Did the children make it out of this house alive? What would it be like to lose everything in a matter of seconds?”

Camoriano says the Joplin tornado renewed his focus on the goal of helping people get back to normal lives.

Special Reports /

Insurers Sponsored Events, Cooked and Paid Millions After Joplin

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