RMIIA News Releases

7951 E. Maplewood Avenue, Suite 110
Greenwood Village, Colorado 80111
Serving Colorado, New Mexico, Utah & Wyoming

Contact: Carole Walker, Executive Director
303-790-0216 or toll free 800-355-9524

Colorado's Wild Week of Severe Weather Carries a $161.1 Million Price Tag—the State's 5th Highest Insured Losses from Storm Damage.

June 16, 2009 – For the past eight days Mother Nature has taken Coloradans on a wild weather ride—starting a week ago Sunday with a tornado and damaging hail in Aurora and the South Metro area, then pounding Northern Colorado with golf-ball and baseball-sized hail, finally wrapping up with a crescendo of twister touchdowns in Elbert County and hail in Fort Collins.

The preliminary tally for damage to property and vehicles is estimated at $161.1 million from approximately 34,000 insurance claims. Most of the damage stems from the widespread hail—battering cars and homes—adding up to nearly 21,000 auto claims and 13,000 homeowner claims. Insurance companies typically compile one catastrophe total when storms occur so close together, so this estimate includes claims being filed throughout Colorado's week of severe weather. The lion's share of the damage appears to be the result of last week's damaging hail that pounded Aurora, Centennial and Parker.

"This daily dose of wild weather isn't all that unusual for early June in Colorado when tornadoes, damaging hail and flooding most often occur and with very little warning," says Carole Walker, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association. "It's a real wake-up call that now is the time to be thinking about how much insurance coverage you have to fix your car, repair or rebuild your home and replace your personal belongings."

Most of Colorado's most costly storms are hail-related and occurred in the Denver-metro area (which makes sense, because that's where the largest concentration of property in the state is located).

Colorado's Top Ten Most Costly Storms:

1. $625 million insured hail damage: July 11, 1990.
2. $276.7 million insured hail damage: June 13-14, 1984.
3. $225 million insured hail damage: October 1, 1994.
4. $193.5 million insured tornado and hail damage in Windsor: May 22, 2008.
5. $161.1 million insured tornado and hail damage: June 7-15, 2009.
6. $146.5 million insured hail damage: June 8-9, 2004.
7. $128 million insured hail damage: August 11, 1997.
8. $122 million in insured hail damage: May 22, 1996.
9. $100 million in insured hail damage: May 30 - June 2, 1991.
10. $93.3 million insured damage from heavy snow and ice: March 18-19, 2003.

For more information:
www.rmiia.org/Catastrophes_and_Statistics/tornado.asp

RMIIA recommends that you take these preventative steps:

DO AN ANNUAL INSURANCE CHECK-UP

• Insurance is something most people don't even want to think about until they need it the most. But, understanding what is and isn't covered in your homeowners' insurance policy can mean the difference of being able to rebuild your home and replace your personal belongings. Homeowners need to do annual insurance policy "check-ups" to make sure they keep up with local building costs and have adjusted their coverage to include home remodeling and additions.

• If you don't have replacement coverage, consider spending a few extra dollars for coverage that pays for the cost of replacing the damaged property without deduction for depreciation.

KNOW WHAT IS & ISN'T COVERED

• The typical homeowners' insurance policy covers damage resulting from fire, windstorm, hail, water damage (excluding flooding), riots and explosion as well as other causes of loss, such as theft and the extra cost of living elsewhere while the structure is being repaired or rebuilt.

• Hail and flood damage to your car is covered only if you have purchased optional comprehensive insurance on your auto policy.

• Your policy also covers your legal liability (up to policy limits) if you, members of your family or even your pets hurt other people or their property, not just in your house, but away from it, as well. If you have a lot of assets to protect, you may want to consider an umbrella policy that offers increased protection against lawsuits.

• The standard policy does not cover flooding, so you may want to look into flood insurance coverage if you're concerned that you're at risk for rising floodwaters.

CREATE A HOME INVENTORY

• Make a home inventory that includes lists, pictures or a videotape of the contents of your home or apartment. After all, would you be able to remember all the possessions you've accumulated over the years if they were destroyed by a tornado or fire? Having an up-to-date home inventory will help get your insurance claim settled faster, verify losses for your income tax return and help you purchase the correct amount of insurance.

• It's easy to get overwhelmed, but RMIIA now has free software that you can download to help simplify the process! You can even add digital photos and scan in receipts, along with your room-by-room online inventory. Log on to www.rmiia.org for free home inventory software or a sample home inventory.

For more consumer information on insurance topics logon to www.rmiia.org.

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Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association is a non-profit consumer information organization. Affiliated with the Insurance Information Institute, RMIIA has been serving consumers and the media since 1952.