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Dayton Business Journal...
Ohio’s May storms
losses to top $400M
Monday, June 20, 2011
Photo: Tom Uhlenbrock/Missouri Department of Natural Resources - The
tornado responsible for the death last month of more than 100 people in
Joplin, Mo., pictured, was part of a storm system that racked up a high
loss tally in Ohio as well.
Severe storms and tornadoes that hit Ohio in late May have put an
estimated $400 million in losses on insurers’ books, making the
outbreak one of the worst in recent memory for the state, the Ohio
Insurance Institute said.
The institute reported that a survey of 25 insurers representing about
80 percent of the state’s automobile and property casualty lines pegged
losses at $322 million to $400 million from storms that struck between
May 20 and May 26. The four days beginning May 23 saw nine confirmed
tornadoes in Ohio as the May 22 weather front that unleashed a deadly
tornado in Joplin, Mo., moved through the state and hit southwestern
and northern counties especially hard.
The loss estimates account for about 77,000 projected auto, property
and business claims in Ohio during the six-day period, part of an
estimated $4 billion to $7 billion in projected claims in 19 states
buffeted by bad weather. One unidentified insurer reported to the
institute that its Ohio losses were put at $101.5 million.
With final loss tallies expected to be higher, the May storms rank as
the third-costliest natural disaster in Ohio’s recent history. Topping
that list is the 1974 Xenia killer tornado outbreak in the Dayton area
that caused $600 million in damages, or about $1 billion in today’s
dollars. A Sept. 14, 2008, windstorm, a remnant of Hurricane Ike that
hit the Southeast, caused more than $500 million in insured losses in
the state.
Among the members of the institute are Allstate Corp., Progressive
Corp. and State Auto.
Check out more details on the loss estimates from the institute here.
The story was written by Cincinnati Business Courier, a sister
publication.
Read it with links at Dayton Business Journal
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