Tornadoes Destroyed Kentucky Insurance Agency, Damaged Others as Claims Pour In

A number of insurance agencies in southwestern Kentucky sustained damage at their own offices during the massive tornado rampage last weekend, including one insurance firm that lost its entire building in hard-hit Mayfield.

“Yes, we lost our Mayfield branch, but that’s minor compared to what some of our clients are going through,” said Roy Riley, president of Peel & Holland Insurance, a multi-state agency that has seven offices in the area.

“The office is just totally gone. Thankfully, none of the staff was injured because it hit at night when no one was here,” said Debbie Draffen, operations specialist at Peel & Holland. She said that her own home in nearby Benton, Kentucky, narrowly escaped the twister’s path.

The Mayfield office was on West Broadway, in the heart of the downtown area that was torn to shreds by the powerful tornado. The phone lines at other insurance agencies nearby went unanswered Wednesday or indicated that they were out of service. Much of the Mayfield area is still without power.

Riley said it’s too soon to know if the agency will rebuild the office or relocate, but he said the firm plans to keep a branch in the city of 10,000 people. Meanwhile, agents have been busy accepting claims from homeowners and commercial property owners who suffered damage in the tornado.

By late Wednesday, Peel & Holland had tallied more than 200 property claims in the area, about 50 of which are total losses, Riley said. The damage will easily run into the millions of dollars, he noted. Some of the agency’s biggest policyholders that were heavily damaged include three churches, a bank, the county courthouse, city offices and many homes.

“This is the worst storm I’ve seen in 31 years in the business,” Riley said.

Three blocks south, the Western Kentucky Insurance agency also was hit and sustained some damage. Wednesday afternoon, it was still without power, an office manager said. Most agency employees were in the field or were working from home.

Staff at Steve Jones’ Shelter Insurance agency in Mayfield could not be reached by phone Wednesday, but Jones said on the agency’s voice mail greeting that Shelter had set up a mobile claims center in the city. He urged policyholders to file claims as soon as possible.

“We’re surviving,” said an office manager at Kentucky Farm Bureau’s Graves County Agency in Mayfield. “We don’t have power, but the office is open.”

Bowling Green, Kentucky, about 130 east of Mayfield, also was in the crosshairs of the estimated 150-mile per hour winds. Some 15 people were killed in the city. Insurance agencies there reported dozens of claims, but only minor damage to their own offices.

The Carr Insurance Agency, on U.S. 31 Bypass, lost siding, power and its air and heat unit on the roof, while nearby businesses lost walls and roofs. But employees at Carr are making the most of the circumstances, said Kelly Carr Haynes. Although the office phones are down and the street is blocked, policyholders are able to leave voice mails, which are forwarded and transcribed on Haynes’ cell phone. Adjusters can then call the customer back or visit the property.

She said that policyholders had already filed many claims, but so far, the number of claims has paled in comparison to those seen in the hailstorm of 1998, which left almost every policyholder with roof or automobile damage.

On the northeast shoulder of Bowling Green is the National Corvette Museum, home to more than 80 versions of the Chevrolet muscle car. Car and insurance buffs may remember that in 2014, a sinkhole opened up under the museum, swallowing eight cars and damaging the building. The event was memorialized in a television advertisement by the Chubb Group of insurance companies, which had insured the property and vehicles and said it worked swiftly to pay for restoration work.

Lightning almost struck twice this week. The museum suffered some minor damage from the tornadoes, but the affiliated NCM Motorsports Park across the street was heavily damaged, according to officials with the museum and the motorsports park.

The park team “is working to evaluate the damage caused from the storms and to develop a plan for repairs and reopening,” the park’s website read Wednesday.

Photo: In this aerial photo, destruction from a recent tornado is seen in downtown Mayfield, Ky., Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)