March’s Severe Weather Proved Deadly, Costly in U.S.

March was a deadly and costly month in parts of the U.S.

A significant severe weather outbreak affected parts of the U.S. Midwest, the Tennessee Valley and the Southeast during the first week of March, killing at least 41 people. The U.S. Storm Prediction Center cited at least 65 tornado touchdowns, including two EF-4 tornadoes that caused extensive damage in parts of southern Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and southwest Ohio.

Total economic losses were estimated at approximately $2 billion, while insured losses are expected to breach $1.1 billion amid more than 170,000 insurance claims, according to global insurance intermediary Aon Benfield in its Global Catastrophe Recap report published by Impact Forecasting, the firm’s catastrophe model center.

Additional U.S. severe weather activity was recorded during the month, including a system that affected the Great Lakes. In southeastern Michigan, an EF-3 tornado damaged or destroyed at least 207 homes in the town of Dexter. Total economic losses were estimated at $275 million, while insurers received at least 20,000 claims with costs expected to top $150 million.

Late in the month, another storm system resulted in at least 46 tornado touchdowns across parts of the Plains, Midwest and the Southeast.

Through the first three months of 2012, the industry has already sustained more than $1.8 billion in insured losses from storm events as the climatologically most active severe weather months of the year begin,” said Impact Forecasting.