Death Toll Stands at 10 in Aftermath of Midwest Tornadoes, Flooding

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The death toll now stands at 10 in the Midwest as tornadoes, severe thunder storms and flooding hit Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin beginning June 6. States battled tornadoes that touched down in multiple areas, heavy winds and hail damaged autos and roofs and record amounts of rain fell.

Indiana

Storms dumped as much as 10 inches of rain on soggy central Indiana beginning June 7, continuing through over the next several days threatening dams, forcing evacuations, inundating highways and sending a scuba team to rescue residents from swamped homes. Some officials are calling the flooding the worst in Indiana since 1913.

Meanwhile, a scuba team performed swift-water rescues and evacuating homes, dispatcher Zachary Elliott of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department said. President Bush declared 29 counties in Indiana disaster areas.

Wisconsin

In Wisconsin, Governor Jim Doyle sought emergency aid for 29 counties. Soldiers were deployed to assist in evacuating 24 people in Ontario, Wis.; others were evacuated from Racine and Juneau. Southeastern Wisconsin, in Kenosha County also sustained some damage as severe thunderstorms ripped through the area in the evening, June 8. On the same day four homes in the vacation region of the Wisconsin Dells were washed away by the strong flood waters of the Wisconsin River.

American Family Insurance Media Relations Administrator Steve Witmer told Insurance Journal that 2,500 claims had been filed in the Milwaukee area by June 9.

“Another 700 claims were filed by residents and businesses near Madison,” he said. “Keep in mind that these claims are only for property.”An estimated 53,742 property claims in the Midwest have been filed for the entire year,” Witmer said. “Severity for Midwest events since May 1st would be $143 million.” Witmer said auto claims calculated by the company’s catastrophe teams are not included in this number.

The Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, Channel 7-TV-ABC and Comcast contributed to this story.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Claims Windstorm Flood Wisconsin

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