Wind and hail storms remain some of the most frequent and severe causes of property damage. While hail storms most frequently impact the Great Plains and Midwest, every state in the nation is susceptible. See how your state compares to others when it comes to wind and hail claims.
Damage caused by wind and hail cost State Farm policyholders more than $3 billion in 2013. The top 10 states with the most wind/hail State Farm claims:
- Texas 42,000 claims
- Illinois 26,000 claims
- Georgia 25,000 claims
- Oklahoma 17,000 claims
- Minnesota 15,000 claims
- Indiana 15,000 claims
- Louisiana 14,000 claims
- Ohio 14,000 claims
- Mississippi 13,000 claims
- Nebraska 12,000 claims
Tennessee finished just outside the top 10, in 11th, with 11,000 claims. That’s down from 25,000 claims in 2012.
As tornado season nears, how do you prepare properly for such an incident?
Preparing Your Home, Preparing Your Family - Tornado
Tornadoes are among the most destructive forces of nature. While no state is immune to a twister's violent winds, there are places where they touch down more often.
- If you do not have a safe room or a tornado shelter, you should identify what might be the safest area of your home or business during tornadoes. This is usually the basement or a small interior room without windows.
- Head to the center of your home or basement, away from windows and preferably under something sturdy like a workbench or staircase or in a bathtub with a mattress over top of you.
- Don’t open your windows! This won’t save the house and may actually make things worse by giving wind and rain a greater chance of getting inside. Get to the safest place possible, away from glass that can break and injure or kill you.
- Closing interior doors will also help to compartmentalize the structure and provide more barriers between you and the storm.
- Don’t try to ride out a tornado in a manufactured home. Even manufactured homes with tie-downs overturn in these storms because they have light frames and offer winds a large surface area to push against.
Outside (No Shelter):
- Never try to outrun a tornado. Instead, leave the vehicle immediately for safe shelter.
- If you can safely get lower than the level of the roadway, such as in a ditch, leave your car and lie in that area, covering your head with your hands.
- Do not get under an overpass or bridge. You are safer in a low, flat location.
Source:
State Farm Insurance, Kip Diggs