June 25, 2018—Severe storms and large hail have severely impacted vehicles in several regions throughout the South and Midwest, resulting in millions of dollars of insurance and reinsurance losses rises to the tens of thousands.
According to Insurance Business Magazine, between April 30 and May 03, parts of the Plains and the Midwest—particularly Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Texas—saw softball-sized hail, dozens of suspected tornado touchdowns, and destructive straight-line winds. For this event, total economic losses were estimated at $950 million, with public and private insurers covering claims worth up to $725 million.
Severe thunderstorms once again hit the Plains and the Midwest on May 19-20. Baseball-sized hailstones were reported in parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri. The most notable damage from this event occurred in Lubbock, Texas, where a high volume of vehicles and home siding was severely damaged by hail. For this event, total economic and insured damage losses were expected to exceed $100 million.
A similar report from Artemis showed that hail storms in Colorado had caused similarly extensive damage. As of June 21, insurers State Farm and USAA had between them reported over 17,500 claims from the Colorado hail storm, so when other insurers claims are added as well the total figure is expected to rise over 20,000.
State Farm said Thursday morning that it had received 6,000 automobile claims and more than 1,300 property insurance claims, while it also said that losses to vehicles were as high as 60 percent and it was working off an average claims figure of $6,000 currently.
