Insurers have so far fielded over 70,000 claims costing $687.9million from the tornadoes that hounded Oklahoma in May.

The claim total, reported by the Oklahoma Insurance Department(OID) as of June 26, is up by nearly 5,000 since the OID's previousupdate on June 19.

“The victims of these devastating tornadoes will be dealing withthe aftermath for quite a while,” said Oklahoma InsuranceCommissioner John D. Doak. “The claim filings are slowing down butthey're nowhere near complete. Most policies allow for claims to beturned in up to one year from the date of loss. The OklahomaInsurance Department is here to help guide the victims through someimportant decisions. We're committed to seeing this through to thevery end.”

Claims for the May 19 and 20 tornadoes, which killed 24 peoplein and around Moore, Okla., reached 18,102 for homeowner'sinsurance with about $433 million in payments made. Private autoclaims totaled 22,126 at a cost of $73 million; there were 478commercial auto claims with $2 million paid out by insurers; andnearly a thousand commercial property claims that cost $25million.

The May 30 and 31 tornadoes that devastated El Reno, Okla.,killing 13, including three professional storm chasers, triggered18,505 homeowner's claims totaling almost $97 million; 11,684private auto claims that cost $27 million; 1,779 commercialproperty claims with nearly $17 million in payments made; and 497commercial auto claims that cost insurers about $2 million.

The OID is holding a series of educational forums for stormvictims in Carney, Moore and El Reno. The weekly Recovering From aDisaster Insurance Forums allow impacted Oklahomans to askquestions and receive assistance with insurance-related issues,including complaints, delays and disputes.