Tuesday, June 21, 2011 03:04 AM
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
By Mark Williams
The deadly tornado that destroyed parts of Joplin, Mo., last month also left a big mark on Ohio, causing losses of historical proportions.
Overall, a six-day stretch of storms in May that included tornadoes spawned by the same system that hit Missouri also helped produce the third-costliest natural disaster for Ohio's insurers, according to preliminary estimates by the Ohio Insurance Institute.
So far, the insured damage has been pegged at $322 million to $400 million. Only the 1974 Xenia tornado and the 2008 wind storm caused by Hurricane Ike caused more insured losses in the state, the group said yesterday.
One storm packing hail the size of tennis balls near Dayton on May 25 damaged almost all homes and cars not under cover in a swath about 1 mile wide and 15 to 20 miles long, said Mike Grushon, co-owner of the Thomas & Grushon insurance agency in Bellbrook and Xenia.
"They got beat up pretty bad," Grushon said of the area, mostly a densely developed neighborhood of higher-priced homes. "I happen to live there, and it beat the living daylights out of my house."
He said his roof and gutters were devastated. Some of the siding on his home was damaged, a window was broken and even statues that his wife keeps in her gardens were ruined.
"It's unprecedented," said Pete Lore, vice president of claims for Nationwide, of the storms that have hit the country this year. "I've been in the insurance business for 17 years, and this is the worst spring I've seen."
The same system that struck Joplin on May 22 didn't cause extensive damage in central Ohio but did in parts of southwestern and northern Ohio. At least nine tornadoes and damaging winds hit the state May 23-26.
Nationally, insured losses from that six-day period in 19 states are expected to total $4billion to $7billion, according to risk-modeling agency AIR Worldwide. The agency expects the tornadoes in April and May to be the costliest in U.S. history.