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Published: 3/30/2011

Ohio ranks 10th in losses to disasters in decade

BY LARRY P. VELLEQUETTE
BLADE BUSINESS WRITER

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There are no major earthquake-prone faults in Ohio, and our notion of an "ocean" is instead a Great Lake that's shaped like a big bathtub.

And while tornadoes can strike anywhere and do tremendous damage, compared to the activity on the Great Plains, we're more a twister cul-de-sac than we are Tornado Alley.

Yet according to an analysis by the Insurance Services Office, which studies property and casualty risk for the insurance industry, Ohio had the 10th-highest damages from disasters during the last decade -- not exactly a Top 10 list the Buckeye State wanted to crack.

According to the study, Ohio recorded $4.1 billion in losses from severe weather between 2001 and 2010, including extensive damage from Hurricane Ike in 2008. Also counted in that amount were the devastating tornadoes that struck northwest Ohio last year, killing six and destroying scores of homes and businesses, including Lake High School.

Damaging winds, large hail, and tornadoes accounted for 62 percent of Ohio's damage total. During the same period, Michigan recorded insured losses of $1.08 billion, a spokesman for the Insurance Services Office said. The group did not rank other states beyond the highest 10, however.

Losses from flooding, such as the repeated inundations along the Blanchard River in Findlay, were also included in the total even though those insurance risks are underwritten by the federal government and not private industry.

Ohio's damage total ranks just behind that of Missouri, which has suffered $4.5 billion in damage, primarily from storms, and California, which suffered $4.7 billion in losses from severe weather, earthquakes, and firestorms brought on by Santa Ana winds.

Those totals pale, however, next to an estimated $31.9 billion in losses suffered during the last decade by Louisiana, which was hit by seven hurricanes and two tropical storms, including the New Orleans devastation during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Florida ranked second in the nation in total damage during the decade, the study found, coming in at $31.5 billion in losses from eight hurricanes and five tropical storms, along with normal severe weather.

The list of states with the worst losses during the decade was dominated by those either on the nation's Gulf Coast, such as Mississippi, Texas, and Alabama, or in the "Tornado Alley" area of the midsection, where the confluence of weather fronts from the Gulf and the Pacific regularly mix to produce deadly storms.

New York state also made the list, but not just because of bad weather. Its $21.5 billion in losses included the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, along with damages from four hurricanes and other severe storms.

"When I think of disasters, I typically think of coastal states," said Mary Bonelli, spokesman for the Ohio Insurance Institute, who said she was surprised that Ohio made the Top 10, even though the Buckeye State has experienced major storms the last decade.

"The one disaster that many people got affected by in Ohio was Hurricane Ike. That particular storm caused $1.3 billion in losses in Ohio, and we were second only to Texas in terms of the amount of the damage from that storm," Ms. Bonelli said. She said a major ice storm that struck central Ohio in December, 2004, caused an estimated $85 million in damage, and June's deadly storms in northwest Ohio caused an estimated $41.2 million in insured losses.

Ms. Bonelli said that though Ohio's storm events may seem to strike in random areas compared with the probability of experiencing a hurricane in Florida, insurance underwriters can calculate relative risk based on a variety of factors, thanks to computer modeling. Still, some major disasters -- flooding and earthquakes are prime examples -- aren't covered by most homeowner and auto insurance policies in Ohio, she said.

"In Ohio, that cost of earthquake insurance is extremely reasonable, especially compared to someplace like California," she said.

Contact Larry P. Vellequette at lvellequette@theblade.com or 419-724-6091.

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