Payments on property and auto insurance claims for the May 19and 20 tornadoes that affected 16 residential counties in Oklahomahave already reached at least $85 million, reports the state'sinsurance department (OID).

According to Oklahoma Emergency Management, almost four thousandstructures were impacted during the tornadoes and 1,248 weredestroyed, leading to 22,422 total claims. The average home pricein Moore is in the $150,000 to $200,000 range.

Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak (pictured) said theclaims count in such a short time since the storms “shows just howdisastrous severe weather can be in our state and the importance ofprotecting yourself with insurance.”

In a press call held on Thursday morning, Oklahoma InsuranceCommissioner John Doak said Oklahoma sees a uniquely large amountof uninsured losses since there are many homeowners in the statewho have paid off their mortgages and choose to forgo carryinginsurance, although the insurance department has concentratedefforts in the past year to urge residents to look into affordablecoverage.

Oklahoma chief actuary Frank Stone said state insurers arewell-capitalized to handle the damage left by the May convectivestorms, since they experienced a few mild years in terms ofcatastrophe losses.

Doak commented on the state's exposure to powerful weather inthe call, saying, “As a non-coastal state experiencing all mannersof natural catastrophes, our insurance rates are higher. Last yearover 100,000 acres of land burned due to wildfire; we've beenimpacted by earthquakes and seen significant hail damage. Am Ileaving anything out except for a locust outbreak?”

Doak has estimated insured losses of $2 billion fromMay's storms.

“Reuters put that out because the [reporter] asked to comparethe recent tornadoes to Joplin, which totaled about $3 billion ininsured losses. Emergency management said that [the May] tornadowas on the ground for 44 minutes and damaged 17 miles ofresidential area, so it seemed logical that the numbers would be inthat realm,” Doak replied in the press conference.

He continued, “In my mind, the comparison was the wrong questionbecause the industry can withstand a major catastrophe loss from $5million to $5 billion; and in U.S. history the industry haswithstood about $26 billion in catastrophe losses. But there willbe significant damage.”

In 1999, Moore experienced the world's third-costliest recordedtwister, which killed 41 people and caused $1 billion in lossesduring the hour and 25 minutes it was on the ground.