The Oklahoma tornadoes of May 2013 contributed the state’s designation last year as the costliest state for natural disaster related insurance payouts, the Insurance Information Institute reported Tuesday.
“Oklahoma’s policyholders received nearly $2 billion from their insurers in 2013 after multiple, deadly tornadoes struck Oklahoma, changing forever communities such as Moore,” said Dr. Robert Hartwig, president of the I.I.I. and an economist, in remarks today to the National Tornado Summit in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
According to I.I.I., insured natural disaster-caused insurance claims payouts in 2013 were highest in:
Total U.S. natural disaster-caused insurance claims payouts came to $12.79 billion in 2013, with $10.27 billion of that figure attributable to tornadoes and severe thunderstorms. The balance was due to events such as winter storms and wildfires, I.I.I reported.
Reporting on claims payouts resulting from tornado/thunderstorm/hail catastrophes since the turn of the century, I.I.I said Texas’ total was $16.9 billion, while Oklahoma had a cumulative total of $9.8 billion for the 2000-2013 period.
Since 2000, insurers have paid $135 billion on millions of claims in all 50 states from severe convective events including tornadoes.
Going back even further, an I.I.I. analysis of U.S. natural disasters dating to 1983 found that, in any given year, 36 percent of all natural disaster-caused claims payouts arose because of tornadoes, according to Dr. Hartwig’s presentation.
Source: Insurance Information Institute