Insured losses for 2008 have already exceeded losses for the whole of 2007
About 1,000 tornadoes occur annually in the United States, but in the first five months of 2008 alone, there were 900 twisters causing 118 fatalities, according to the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA). Insured losses for 2008 have already exceeded losses for the whole of 2007.
Although individually they are rarely large losses because of their narrow footprint, tornado claims were, nonetheless, responsible for 26% of US catastrophe losses between 1987 and 2006, second only to tropical cyclones which accounted for 46.3%, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
Property Claims Services (PCS) estimates the outbreak of thunderstorms and tornadoes in early February 2008 that affected eight mid-western states from Arkansas to New York, cost insurers $955 million. Another outbreak of severe weather in Texas and Arkansas, in mid-February caused insured damages estimated at $230 million.
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