Oklahoma Tornadoes Expected to Cause Record Insured Losses

January 1, 2011 / 1 min read

NEW YORK, May 4, 1999 — Damage from tornadoes that ripped through central and southwestern Oklahoma has created the worst insured catastrophe in Oklahoma's history, according to preliminary information from the Property Claim Services (PCS) unit of Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO). PCS experts are compiling loss information to develop estimates of dollar losses.

ISO's PCS unit defines a catastrophe as an event that causes $25 million or more in insured property losses and affects a significant number of property and liability policyholders and insurers.

Here, in descending order of insured loss, are the five previous worst catastrophes in Oklahoma's history:

Oklahoma

	Date	Amount	Cause of Loss
1.	June 1992	$150 Million	hail, tornadoes and wind
2.	April 1995	$125 Million	Oklahoma City bombing
3.	March 1988	$100 Million	hail, tornadoes and wind
4.	April 1993	$ 85 Million	hail, tornadoes and wind
5.	April 1994	$ 75 Million	hail, tornadoes and wind

Based on the latest damage assessments, insured losses in Kansas, where the same storm system has produced a string of killer tornadoes, are not expected to reach record levels.

Here are the five previous most severe catastrophes in Kansas' history:

Kansas

	Date	Amount	Cause of Loss
1.	June 1992	$420 Million	hail, tornadoes and wind
2.	April 1992	$225 Million	hail, tornadoes and wind
3.	April 1991	$150 Million	hail, tornadoes and wind
4.	July 1993	$ 60 Million	hail, tornadoes and wind
5.	June 1966	$ 57 Million	hail, tornadoes and wind

Release: Immediate

Contacts:
Giuseppe Barone / Erica Helton
MWW Group (for ISO)
201-507-9500
gbarone@mww.com / ehelton@mww.com