NU Online News Service, Jan. 3, 2:44 p.m. EST
The New Year did not begin well for residents of Arkansas, Missouri and Mississippi, who spent the first day of 2011 digging through their belongings after several deadly tornadoes touched down on the last day of 2010.
"It really was a terrible storm," said State Farm spokesman Gary Stephenson from Arkansas. The little-known rural town of Cincinnati, Ark., on the border of Oklahoma, is considered "ground zero," he said.
State Farm, the top writer of homeowners multiperil coverage in each of the affected states, received less than 20 claims out of Arkansas but five homes are listed as uninhabitable, Mr. Stephenson said.
"It won't be a big hit financially for State Farm, but it is devastating for these people," Mr. Stephenson said. Cincinnati is a farming community of about 100 people who also own cattle and poultry, he added.
The storm claimed three lives in Cincinnati. Four others died in Missouri.
In Missouri, State Farm spokesman Jim Camoriano said the company had received 200 claims as of Saturday and expects about 1,000 claims from a tornado that ripped through St. Louis County. Most of the claims are from about five or six ZIP codes in the county, and the total predicted count is merely a guess, he said.
Between 10 and 20 residences were deemed uninhabitable, Mr. Camoriano said. The insurer has already made contact with them all.
"It is obviously important to get to them right away," he said. "More claims are likely to come in as we get away from the holiday."
Officials in Missouri have said about 250 homes and other structures were damaged and possibly 50 were completely destroyed.
Spokesmen with Arkansas Farm Bureau, South Farm Bureau or American Family Insurance Group could not immediately be reached.
State Farm spokesman Roszell Gadsen in Mississippi said the insurer has classified seven or eight out of 113 claims received as uninhabitable. Most the damage was in Jackson and Terry areas in Hinds County.
According to Highline Data, State Farm has a 27.6 percent market share in Missouri, a 25 percent share of the market in Mississippi and 24.2 percent market share in Arkansas.
Second in market share in Missouri is American Family with 17 percent. Second in Mississippi is Southern Farm Bureau with 15.8 percent, and in Arkansas, second is Arkansas Farm Bureau with 18.8 percent.
Highline Data is part of Summit Business Media, which also owns National Underwriter.
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