LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - Tomorrow marks the sixth-month anniversary of a powerful tornado that struck Vilonia, which killed four and was part of a tumultuous spring of severe weather.
Arkansas Business Publisher Jeff Hankins stopped by the studio to give us some information on the amount of assistance that insurance companies paid out.
For the last half of April alone, the Arkansas Insurance Department reported nearly 42,000 claims and losses totaling $121 million. Vilonia suffered $10.5 million in losses, while Washington County reported $14 million in residential losses and $13 million after heavy storms and rainfall causes fatalities and damage.
From an insurance perspective, the mass of additional claims helped make these storms unusual. In Arkansas, there were 30,000 more claims than usual. That in turn put more cases on the adjustors to handle, which put pressure on the turnaround time to get claims resolved.
In addition, all of these storms hit around the same time. During the month of April, there seemed to be a major weather event happening in Arkansas each week, resulting in all of the claims being filed at the same time.
It wasn't long before flood adjustors in Northwest Arkansas had to start keeping an eye on flooding in East Arkansas caused by the White and St. Francis Rivers.
It's likely that the payout to victims will affect future premiums, but Hankins says it is not easy to say when or how. He says it's going to take more than six months, or even a year, to figure just how costly these storms were.
There is more information on the Arkansas Business website about record-setting April storms that prompted nearly 42,000 claims.