Indiana residents experienced more property damage than any other state last year, due largely to the fact that no severe tropical storms or hurricanes affected coastal regions, the Insurance Services Office recently reported.
The Insurance Institute of Indiana said that state residents filed nearly 335,000 insurance claims and suffered about $1.5 billion in property damage due to catastrophes. There were eight major weather events that affected the Hoosier state during 2006, but a mid-April hail storm was the most damaging. This single event caused 1.3 billion in damages, which led to 282,500 claims being filed.
According to the Institute, the second largest event to hit Indiana last year was a storm that took place earlier in April, which caused a considerable amount of damage to the Regents Bank Building in downtown Indianapolis. In contrast to the hail storm, it caused just $60 million in property damages.
Despite the unusually high claim activity in 2006, policyholders aren't expected to see substantial rate increases like some are experiencing in coastal states affected by the catastrophic events of 2005.
"Insurance premiums have been falling in Indiana for years, and we are in a good position relative to the rest of the country," said Steve Williams, president of the Insurance Institute of Indiana, in a release. "Companies take a lot of variables into consideration when setting rates."
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