Thousands of Claims from the Plains Head to Insurers

Claims filed after mid-April severe-weather events in the Plains states are quickly piling up.

As of April 16, State Farm, the top insurer of property in the affected states, says it has received more than 2,400 claims for tornado, hail and wind damage.

Meanwhile, American Family Insurance has logged 800 property claims and about 430 automobile claims, spokesman Stephen Witmer tells NU.

The National Weather Service reported 126 tornadoes touched down in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma on April 14 and 15.

The Sunflower State was the most greatly affected, with 99 of the 126 tornado reports in isolated areas of rural Kansas.

Twenty-nine homes in Kansas were classified by State Farm as uninhabitable. The insurer took 305 homeowner's claims and 124 auto claims in the state, according to State Farm spokesman Jim Camoriano. Fifty of the vehicles damaged are immobile.

In Oklahoma, 503 claims—245 homeowner's and 258 auto—have been filed with State Farm, Camoriano adds. Of those, about 35 homes are uninhabitable, and 53 vehicles are not drivable.

Woodward, Okla. received much of the media attention following the weekend storms, as six people there died. Though an early warning by the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center has been credited for saving lives, a lightning strike knocked out the tornado sirens in Woodward. The deaths in Woodward were the only ones reported.

State Farm spokeswoman Ann Avery says the claim count is 756 in Iowa (510 homeowner's) and 748 in Nebraska (516 homeowner's).

According to SNL Financial, State Farm is the top writer of multiperil homeowner's and private-passenger auto insurance in Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska, with a combined 24.65 percent market share. American Family is the third-largest provider of homeowner's and auto insurance in the states, with a 6.7 percent market share.