The Midwest received no reprieve from the intense May storm season this weekend, as Oklahoma City and St. Louis were pummeled by tornadoes, flooding and straight-line winds on Friday that killed 13 and injured hundreds in the metropolitan areas.
According to Aon Benfield, this may become the third billion-dollar natural disaster of the year since an outbreak of severe weather began in the region on May 26.
“At this point in time, it is still too early to cite a specific loss estimate on both an economic or insured basis for the most recent stretch of severe weather in the U.S.; however, given the level and widespread coverage of damage from this slow-moving storm system – which finally ended on Sunday in the Northeast – there is little doubt that this will be a billion-dollar economic loss,” says Steve Bowen, Aon Benfield senior scientist and meteorologist.
“From an insurance industry perspective, losses were already in the hundreds of millions even prior to Friday's tornadoes and flooding in Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois and elsewhere in the Plains and Midwest,” he adds. “It would not be a surprise if the recent stretch of severe weather ends up becoming the second billion-dollar insured event in the U.S. in the last two weeks.”
Previously, hail in Amarillo, Texas on May 28 caused 25,000 claims, and the EF-5 tornado in Moore, Okla. on May 20 destroyed 13,000 homes and caused up to $2 billion in damage.
The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) announced that it received 24 tornado reports between Friday and Saturday mornings. The third outbreak of May convective storms was caused by a slow-moving cold front in the Great Plains colliding with moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, heated by high daytime temperatures.
All of Friday's tornado fatalities occurred in Oklahoma. Multiple twisters, some a mile wide or larger, and baseball-sized hail caused severe damage, mostly in El Reno, where five people were killed, including three professional storm chasers from The Discovery Channel.
Flash flooding brought about 11 inches of rain, complicating rescue and recovery efforts and causing dangerous conditions for motorists and those stuck in buildings like a courthouse where up to five feet of water had pooled. More than 86,000 customers in the state were left without power as the weekend began.
The Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma became an underground evacuation center for 1,200 people as the tornadoes passed overhead.
In Missouri, tornadoes and straight-line winds of more than 60 mph leveled homes around St. Charles and St. Louis. Homes were leveled, and a casino, a hotel, a health center, four schools, and the St. Louis Lambert airport sustained damage.
About 200 roads were closed due to flash flooding in the state, and 89,000 customers lost power.
Damage and dangerous weather also touched down in the form of high winds, rain and golfball-sized hail in Kansas, Arkansas, Illinois and Indiana on Friday.
The National Climatic Data Center averages show that despite the lives lost and damage sustained by large portions of the U.S. in May, the 237 tornadoes that were documented last month is still below the month-to-date count of 659 tornado sightings in May 2012.
However, Accuweather Enterprise Solutions vice president Mike Smith says that he expects to see “normal or even above-normal tornado numbers for the time of year” over the next month.
As of June 12, The Oklahoma Insurance Department says that claims filed by state residents has climbed to 60,308 since May 19. The filings represent insured losses of nearly $470 million, including 16,0002 homeowners and 886 commercial property claims for the May 19 and 20 tornadoes; and 13,070 homeowners and 963 commercial property claims for the May 30 and 31 tornadoes.
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