Colo. Storms Leave Path of Destruction, Claims

After a week of watching the skies and bracing for yet another round of severe weather, the insurance industry estimates the hailstorms that battered communities from the Northeastern Plains down through Southern Colorado have so far resulted in more than 20,961 claims totaling $62.6 million in insured damage to cars and homes.

This estimate is a tally from the storms that hit Aug. 9, 10 and 11 and includes 11,708 auto claims and an additional 9,253 homeowner claims. This is an early estimate that may change as more of the claims the property/casualty industry expects continue to come in.

With three-to-four inch hail being reported in concentrated areas that spanned from Pueblo to Fort Collins, insurance companies fanned out their catastrophe teams and have opened drive up claims centers to help with the settlement process.

“Mother Nature took us on a wild ride this week (week of Aug. 9) in Colorado,” Carole Walker, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association, said. “In some ways, we have actually been lucky that these storms didn’t do a greater amount of damage. The areas that were hammered got hit hard, while other more densely populated, urban areas were spared from damaging hail.”

This has reportedly been Colorado ‘s most costly hail season in nearly a decade, and this latest round of storms is the third insured disaster that the industry has tracked in 2004 as a “catastrophic” event. Those storms alone totaled nearly $240 million in insured losses. This doesn’t account for smaller hailstorms throughout the summer that have also resulted in claims being filed.

* $146.5 million in insured damage occurred on June 8-9, 2004 (Southwest Denver, Lakewood, Golden);
* $62.6 million in insured damage occurred on Aug. 9-11, 2004 (From Northeastern Plains to Southern Colorado);
* $28.2 million in insured damage occurred on July 9, 2004 (Colorado Springs).

Colorado ‘s most costly hailstorm – $625 million in insured damage – took place on July 11, 1990.