May 25, 2011
By: Carrie Van Brunt-Wiley
Auto, business and home insurance companies across the country have mobilized in an effort to help assess the financial damage of a series of deadly tornadoes last weekend that killed hundreds in Missouri and across the Midwest.
The town of Joplin, Missouri, was hit hardest by the storms, though portions of Kansas and Minnesota also suffered damage. The Insurance Information Institute announced property insurance firms around the U.S. have sent agents out to those areas weeks after taking a similar response in the wake of severe tornadoes in Alabama and the South.
"Insurers have the financial and human resources to respond effectively to these tragic natural disasters," said Dr. Robert Hartwig, an economist and president of the III "The spring of 2011's tornadoes have been some of the costliest, and deadliest, in U.S. history."
The III notes a preliminary count estimates as many as 1,076 tornadoes have already touched down this year. That's quickly approaching the 1,200 average experienced in most years.
A report from the Associated Press also noted estimates said April's tornadoes likely cost insurers $6 billion in damages, with $4.5 billion of that total paid by Alabama homeowners insurance companies.
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