Twisters Still Being Assessed For Cat

The past week of killer tornadoes and severe storm damage in the Midwest is still being assessed for insured loss and has not been designated a catastrophe according to the Jersey City, N.J.-based Insurance Services Office Inc.'s claim services division.

“PCS has not yet compiled an estimate of insured property damage associated with the latest breakout of severe weather in the Midwest,” said Gary Kerney, assistant vice president for Property Claim Services at ISO in an e-mail statement. “We are working on extending the current definition to include recent damage.”

According to Guy Carpenter's Catastrophe Information bulletin, from May 22-27 a total of 150 tornados caused wide spread damage throughout the Midwest, killing 9 people. There were a total of 160 tornados ranging from Texas to Minnesota over that period.

Large hail and heavy rain blanketed the region with Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas and Oklahoma hit the hardest.

In Parkersburg, Iowa, 622 homes and 21 offices were either destroyed or damaged, including City Hall which was destroyed. Four people were also killed in the storm.

Heavy hail hit Waterloo, Iowa, killing two people and injuring 70, two of whom were in critical condition.

Hugo, Minn., reportedly had 200 homes either destroyed or damaged from a May 25 tornado.

In Colorado a total of 1,156 were damaged or destroyed from several May 26 twisters.

Adding to the list of natural disasters, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has expanded the scope of the State of Emergency for wildfires that have consumed more than 3,300 acres to two counties, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz. The fire has also consumed residences and other structures. The National Interagency Fire Center has put the total acreage burned at 4,270.

Mr. Kerney said has not assigned a catastrophe number to the recent fire activity in California “because of the relatively few properties involved.”