Indiana Tornado Losses Will Prove Costly

The tornadoes that ripped through Indiana last week will prove costly. Preliminary estimates put the costs of repairing the damages in Marion County alone at $29,797,800.

An article in the Indianapolis Star reported that a survey of the county showed that 282 residential and commercial properties had been damaged by the storms, some of them severely. The article noted that the “Amber Woods apartments recorded $3.98 million in damage; Rock of Faith Church, $2 million; Galyan’s, $2 million; and Baxter YMCA, $1.5 million.”

The report gave no indications of what the insured losses might be, but stated that the $230 million estimate doesn’t “include any personal items or commercial inventory inside.” It also excludes damages to public utilities and property, such as power lines, street lights, sidewalks and other infrastructure.

The authorities in other parts of the State are preoccupied with repairing the damages, and haven’t yet released any additional estimates of the losses. Nor have the State’s insurers given any figures for their losses, but judging from the violence of the storms, and the experience in Indianapolis, they will undoubtedly be high.