Severe summer thunderstorms in Ohio will cause between $71.5million and $84.8 million in insured losses, according to industryestimates.

The thunderstorms began on July 9 and spawned flooding andthree tornadoes, which exacerbated damage to trees and power linescaused by excessive rain during the previous two weeks.

The National Weather Service (NWS) Cleveland reported that someareas of the state began to experience a two-week period of rain onJune 26 that led to an accumulation of eight inches of water.Conditions continued until July 10, when three tornadoes wereconfirmed in Seneca, Huron, and Sandusky counties.

Property Claim Services (PCS) put loss estimates for the stormsystem, which primarily affected Ohio and Pennsylvania, at $84.8million, while the Ohio Insurance Institute (OII) puts the lossesat $71.5 million.

“Not all insurance companies are represented by OII's survey orPCS findings. Final losses will likely be closer to PCS' figures.This range is the industry's best guesstimate at this time,” saidOII President Dan Kelso. The OII points out that industry estimatesdo not include uninsured property or flood losses, which may becovered by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

A P&C industry survey conducted by the OII showed 11,846homeowners' claims filed in connection to the storms at a loss ofabout $59 million; 1,598 auto claims filed at a loss of about $4.6million; and 2,824 business claims filed at a loss estimate ofabout $7.2 million. Insured losses reported by companies rangedfrom $35,000 to over $10.6 million.

According to OII, the July 10 event is the ninth major naturaldisaster to hit Ohio since 2011, including two winter storms in2011 and seven wind-hail storms.

Insured storm-covered perils include property damage from hail,high winds and flying debris and vehicle coverage for hail,flooding or high winds. Food spoilage induced by power failure andbasement water backup is usually excluded, but available throughendorsements.