Colorado’s Severe Weather Carries a $161.1 Million Price Tag

June 16, 2009

For the past eight days Mother Nature has taken Coloradans on a wild weather ride — starting June 7 with a tornado and damaging hail in Aurora and the South Metro area, then pounding Northern Colorado with golf-ball and baseball-sized hail, finally wrapping up with a crescendo of twister touchdowns in Elbert County and hail in Fort Collins.

The preliminary tally for damage to property and vehicles is estimated at $161.1 million from approximately 34,000 insurance claims, according to the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association. Most of the damage stems from the widespread hail — battering cars and homes — adding up to nearly 21,000 auto claims and 13,000 homeowner claims. Insurance companies typically compile one catastrophe total when storms occur so close together, so this estimate includes claims being filed throughout Colorado’s week of severe weather. The lion’s share of the damage appears to be the result of damaging hail that pounded Aurora, Centennial and Parker, RMIIA said.

“This daily dose of wild weather isn’t all that unusual for early June in Colorado when tornadoes, damaging hail and flooding most often occur and with very little warning,” said RMIIA Executive Director Carole Walker. “It’s a real wake-up call that now is the time to be thinking about how much insurance coverage you have to fix your car, repair or rebuild your home and replace your personal belongings.”

Most of Colorado’s most costly storms are hail-related and occurred in the Denver-metro area (which makes sense, because that’s where the largest concentration of property in the state is located), the association said.