Heartland Tornadoes Are Worst In Years A seriesof deadly storm cells that produced over 100 tornadoes beginningFriday, May 2, has caused considerable damage and death throughout14 states in the Midwest and South, claiming about 40 lives andobliterating towns in at least three states.

The Insurance Information Institute in New York City said itssurvey of insurers dealing in six of the states affected estimatedthe damage could run at least $325 million, making it one of thetop five costliest tornado events.

Giving a preliminary assessment of damage in just one state,Tennessee, however, adjuster R. Clay Humphries, assistant vicepresident and general manager for GAB Robins North America Inc. inParsippany, N.J., said the insured loss damage there could run intothe hundreds of millions of dollars. He said the feedback he isgetting from carriers is that insurers are already putting awayreserves in the triple-million-dollar range.

The worst hit states, Kansas, Missouri and Tennessee have seenthousands of homes and business destroyed. Kansas and Missouri wereboth declared disaster areas by President George W. Bush onTuesday. Tennessee was still in the process of collecting databefore making an application, one state official said.

By last count, Missouri reported 17 dead, Kansas said seven haddied, and Tennessee said it had 15 confirmed deaths.

On Monday, May 5, the Insurance Services Office Inc., based inJersey City, N.J., declared the weather events catastrophes. ISOsaid such a designation means the event caused more than $25million in damage.

Mike Gannon, a spokesperson for AIR Worldwide Corp. in Boston, asubsidiary of ISO, said the modeling agency would not have lossestimates until the series of storms going through the area isfinished, which was not expected until near the end of the week.ISO would not have actual loss figures until insurers completedtheir totals, he noted.

AIR was also sending teams of engineers to assess thedamage.

“This has been devastating to dozens of communities,” said RandyMcConnell, communications director for the Department of Insurancein Missouri. Pierce City and Stockton, where tornadoes struck the“old downtown” areas, he said, “do not look like townsanymore.”

In Pierce City, Mo., a population of 14,000, a National GuardArmory where people had sought shelter collapsed, killing one. Atotal of 17 counties were hit, affecting 50 communities throughoutthe state where the storm crossed in from the north and moved eastof Kansas City, Mo. Missouri Gov. Bob Holder activated the NationalGuard to help out.

Kansass officials said seven counties were hit there.

In Tennessee, Kurt Pickering, spokesperson for the TennesseeEmergency Management Agency, said 50 counties in the state havebeen hit either by tornadoes or flooding. Over 3,000 residents andclose to 400 non-residential buildings, such as businesses andchurches, have reported some sort of damage. “This could turn outto be the worst disaster in the last 30 years,” said Mr.Pickering.

GAB Robins Mr. Humphries said that while Tennessees governorgave an estimate that damages would run at least $9 million, hepersonally knew of one claim alone, covering a civic center, thatwould run between $5 million and $6 million.

Briefing NU last Wednesday, Mr. Humphries noted that itwas too early in the week to know for sure how much the total willbe because of the continuing storm pattern. Most damage fromflooding produced by the storms was taking place in the middle andeastern regions of Tennessee, he reported. He said the extent ofthe damage, which ranged from complete loss and devastation toroofs blown off buildings, was about a 50-50 mix.

While news accounts concentrated on the loss in Missouri ofPierce Citys downtown, Mr. Humphries said Jackson, Tenn., a city of100,000, was hit much worse. “Its still early in the game to knowhow bad it will be in the end.”

I.I.I. said the largest event in U.S. history was in May 1999,when tornadoes and storms struck 18 states and cost insurers $1.6billion. The next largest loss was a 1974 tornado event thatamounted to $1.5 billion in losses. Both figures are in 2002dollars.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, May 12, 2003.Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serialpublication. All rights reserved. Copyright in this article as anindependent work may be held by the author.