Add to that about 2,800 homeowners and 1,600 automobile claims from North Carolina, says spokeswoman Kim Conyers. North Carolina was hit heavily by strong winds and tornadoes at the end of a storm system the weekend of April 19.

Much of the volume is coming from the insurer's Southern Zone—the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and South Carolina. More than 15,500 claims have been filed here, with more than 12,000 from Alabama, says spokesman David Majors. An outbreak of terrible weather that included tornadoes on April 27 hit populated areas of Alabama particularly hard. Nearly 200 people died as a result.

Majors reported the most recent claims figures from a mobile claims center in Bessemer, Ala.—one of five centers set up in the state. One each has been set up in Georgia and Mississippi, he adds.

“Some of the people who come have no clothes other than what they are wearing,” Majors says. “Their house and everything in it were blown away. We have been trying to get people housing and an advance for some clothes.”

“It's tough to hear the stories. We've been doing a lot of listening,” he adds.

In Missouri spokesman Jim Camoriano reports 1,763 homeowners and 961 auto claims as of early April 28 due to a very strong EF4 tornado that touched down in the St. Louis area on April 22.

About $410,000 has already been paid out here, he adds.

Tornadoes, high winds and hail battered Arkansas April 25. The state was also in the group affected by earlier April storms. As of late April 28 State Farm has fielded nearly 4,000 claims in Arkansas.

Spokesman Gary Stephenson says the total jumped 700 claims from April 27 as homeowners assessed damages from the April 25 storms.

“We continue to anticipate many more claims in the coming days,” Stephenson says.

State Farm in 2010 had about 25 percent of the personal-lines insurance market share in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Missouri, according to Highline Data.

The insurer is the top writer of personal lines insurance in the U.S., with a 19.3 percent market share.

Highline Data is part of Summit Business Media, which also owns National Underwriter.