Ohio’s losses due to Ike at $553M

About 2.6 million utility customers lost power after Ike swept through the state.

COLUMBUS (AP) — Winds from Hurricane Ike will cost insurance companies at least $553.1 million to cover property damage and other losses in Ohio, rivaling the state’s costliest natural disaster of recent decades, a trade group estimated Tuesday.

When other expenses are tallied, including government cleanup costs, last month’s windstorm may top financial losses reported after the 1974 tornado that devastated the western Ohio town of Xenia, the Ohio Insurance Institute said.

About 2.6 million Ohio utility customers lost power after remnants of Ike swept through the state, knocking down power lines, trees and damaging homes and businesses. At least seven of the 56 deaths blamed on Hurricane Ike were in Ohio.

The Ohio Insurance Institute surveyed two dozen insurers that handled a record of nearly 132,000 claims from Ohio home, vehicle and business owners because of the Sept. 14 windstorm.

The survey represents about two-thirds of the Ohio auto and home insurance market and one-third of the commercial market.

The dollar figures don’t include policyholders’ deductibles and uninsured property losses.

The damage estimate also is likely to rise as more companies report insurance claims.

Except for Texas, Ohio’s losses will be a lot higher, said Mary Bonelli, a spokeswoman for the institute.

Insurers said the hardest-hit area was southern Ohio, especially near Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus.

State and federal officials this week are reviewing costs for debris removal and emergency services — an estimated $35.9 million, said Kay Phillips, chief of the Ohio Emergency Management Agency’s recovery branch.

Gov. Ted Strickland will then send President Bush a request for federal aid.

The 1974 Xenia tornado destroyed 2,200 homes and businesses, left 32 people dead and cost about $1 billion in insured losses and state expenses in 2008 dollars, the Ohio Insurance Institute said.

The national Insurance Information Institute estimates that insurance payments from damage along Hurricane Ike’s path will total $9.8 billion.

It would be the fourth-costliest hurricane in U.S. history if that estimate holds.