Colorado has seen a lot of ugly weather lately, and it doesn’t come cheap. Recently, Denver was struck with its costliest hailstorm coming in at $1.4 billion in damages. We’ve seen the destruction and our thoughts go out to all involved.
Need help recovering from the storms? That’s what we’re here for. From roofing to assisting with insurance claims, we’ve got it handled. Give us a call! Colorado Superior Roofing is the preferred contractor, maintaining a 5 Star Rating from Home Services Review.
Hailstorm that struck Denver is metro area’s costliest ever at $1.4 billion The hailstorm that pounded west metro Denver with golf ball- and baseball-sized stones on May 8 will rank as the most expensive catastrophe in state history, according to estimates Tuesday from the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association.
The insurance industry trade group estimates that more than 150,000 auto insurance claims and more than 50,000 homeowners insurance claims will be filed, resulting in $1.4 billion in insured losses.
“It isn’t an exact science, and we try to be conservative,” said Carole Walker, executive director of the trade group. “The cost of claims will likely go up.”
At $1.4 billion, the storm will surpass the $1.1 billion in damage claims, adjusted for inflation, that a storm on July 11, 1990, generated and the $845.5 million in claims tied to a storm on July 20, 2009.
It will also be three times more expensive than the state’s most damaging wildfire, which destroyed 346 homes in the Waldo Canyon area of Colorado Springs in June 2012 and generated $453.7 million in payouts at the time.
“The enormous size of the hail hitting densely populated areas of the Denver metro (area) during rush hour has contributed to the magnitude of damage caused by this storm,” Walker said.
Golden, north Lakewood, Wheat Ridge and northwest Denver suffered the hardest hits, with damage also reported in Commerce City, insurers said.
One factor that sets the May 8 storm apart from earlier ones is that it is on track to generate more auto claims ($710 million) than home claims ($704 million).
“It is a high number of auto claims as opposed to home,” said Walker.
Farmers Insurance Group has seen about 60 percent of damage claims come in on the auto side and 40 percent on the home side, said Carrie Bonney, a spokeswoman for the insurer. Normally, the split is in the other direction.
Part of that reflects the storm’s timing. Cars were out in the open at workplace parking lots or on roads during early rush-hour traffic.
Also, Angela Thorpe, a spokeswoman with State Farm, said the path of the storm took it through areas with a heavy concentration of multifamily housing, where fewer carports and garages are available to shelter vehicles from the elements.
The storm also carried a big punch, with stones so large in some areas that they didn’t just dent hoods and roofs, but shattered and punched through windshields.
