February Winter Storm In Ohio Causes $23M In Losses

NU Online News Service, March 1, 3:04 p.m. EST

The early February storm that affected 30 states has cost Ohio insurers about $23 million so far.

The Ohio Insurance Institute (OII) said 9,000 claims have been filed due to the “Groundhog Day blizzard,” which brought whiteout conditions to the northwest part of the state on Feb. 2.

“Losses are expected to rise over the next few months as additional property damage is detected,” the OII said.

Property Claim Services said the storm reached catastrophe levels in Ohio, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Texas.

Catastrophe modeler AIR Worldwide estimated insured losses from the massive winter storm to be between $790 million and $1.4 billion.  http://www.propertycasualty360.com/2011/02/07/air-early-feb-winter-storm-to-cost-insurers-up-to

Losses will eclipse $150 million in Texas, according to the Insurance Council of Texas (ICT). The Dallas-Forth Worth and El Paso areas were hit particularly hard with extremely low temperatures. Damage from frozen pipes was seen as far south as Corpus Christi, along the Gulf of Mexico, the ICT said.

About 90 percent of claims (8,167) in Ohio are for homeowners or renters insurance. Nearly 500 auto claims have been filed and about 380 business claims. Insured losses from homeowners claims account for $20 million of the total losses thus far, the OII said.

Like in the other affected states, Ohio saw claims related to ice dams, frozen pipes, power outages, fallen trees and limbs, and roof collapses.

All insurance companies are not represented in the OII survey and others were not able to provide Ohio-only claims data. “Actual losses will be higher than our initial findings,” said Daniel J. Kelso, OII president.