- Already in 2008, insured losses from severe weather systems have surpassed $1 billion – about $850 million stemming from the Super Tuesday Tornado Outbreak in the mid-South on Feb. 5 and Feb. 6. Early damage estimates from a March 14 tornado that struck in downtown Atlanta and surrounding counties are at $340 million.
- While hurricanes and earthquakes, on average, tend to generate higher losses per event, tornadoes and related weather events have caused nearly 57 percent, on average, of all U.S. insured catastrophe losses in any given year since 1953. In 2007, losses from these perils generated 69 percent of total insured catastrophe losses.
- Smaller insurers, particularly single-state writers with exposure concentrated in tornado-prone states, are facing increasing pressure on profitability from several years of high back-to-back losses.
- For policyholders in tornado-prone regions, this may mean increased premiums and deductibles as well as and coverage interruptions.