NU Online News Service, May 2, 3:27 p.m. EDT
Catastrophe-risk modeler EQECAT says the recent tornado outbreak is estimated to have caused $2 billion to $5 billion in insured losses.
Reports indicate the number of destroyed buildings is approaching 10,000 from more than 350 reported tornadoes the last two weeks, adds EQECAT.
Modeler AIR Worldwide says the tornado outbreak is similar to one in April 1974, which killed 310 people. A tornado in Alabama on April 27 killed about 200 people. The National Weather Service put a preliminary rating of EF5—the highest rating—on the twister, which hit Tuscaloosa, Ala. Deaths from tornadoes were also recorded in Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia, Arkansas and Kentucky.
AIR also compares the tornadoes of the last couple of weeks to an outbreak in 2003, which resulted in $3.2 billion in insured loss at the time.
Georgia Insurance Commissioner Ralph T. Hudgens today says damage from last Wednesday's storms has reached $75 million in insured losses.
A tornado in St. Louis on April 22 has generated about 7,000 home and auto claims, according to the Missouri Department of Insurance (MDI). There have been 4,490 home, 2,245 auto and 240 commercial claims filed, with 137 buildings with "large or total losses," MDI says.
Mobile claims centers have been set up by insurers throughout the affected states. The Mississippi Insurance Department also says it set up a mobile assistance center and, like other insurance departments, has set up an online list of insurers' claims numbers. Each state is also warning residents of contractor fraud.
As of Friday morning, State Farm says it received 15,000 homeowners and automobile claims from the storms April 27 in Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. More than 11,200 are from Alabama, the insurer says.
"Though high, the raw number of claims alone for the region does not fully capture the severity of this storm," says State Farm spokesman Justin Tomczak in a statement. "We anticipate the number of claims to continue rising."
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