NU Online News Service, April 26, 11:49 a.m. EDT
Insurers in Arkansas have yet to be able to get to some of the areas most affected by tornadoes and high winds on Monday.
State Farm spokesman Gary Stephenson says he is waiting with homeowners in a high school in Vilonia, Ark., for clearance from authorities, who are still conducting search-and-rescue operations.
Reportedly dozens of people remain unaccounted for in the small, rural town of Vilonia, about 30 miles north of Little Rock. Four residents in town are believed to have died from the storm. Seven Arkansans in all are reportedly dead.
“We’re just waiting,” Stephenson says from the school. “The search-and-rescue teams and doing what they need to do. Right now that’s more important.
“There are people here with chain saws waiting to cut the trees off their houses and property,” he adds.
Stephenson says he does not have a grasp of the types of claims from the storm, but damage reports include roofs torn off. Winds snapped utility poles and tossed vehicles and trucks. He says a retirement area, Hot Springs Village, was also affected by the storm.
Stephenson says State Farm already has catastrophe operations set up in Arkansas, since the state was affected by severe weather that struck from Oklahoma to the Carolinas starting on April 19.
The National Weather Service says a major flood and flash flood event is taking place in the state until April 27. More rain is forecasted, with another round of severe weather late today. Tornadoes, high winds and hail are expected, the NWS says.
According to Highline Data the top writer of personal-lines insurance in Arkansas in 2010 was State Farm, with a 24.1 percent market share.
Highline Data is a part of Summit Business Media, which also owns National Underwriter.
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