Tornado, insurance?

[Izze]

Hi guys!

I'm currently traveling in the US and watching the terrifying Midwest tornados on the news
Besides the tragic loss of family members I wonder (if you know) how do the families that got their homes wiped out manage to get back financially?
Are most of them insured? Do you need to have a special tornado insurance?
Will the government help out?

Not really sure if my insurance (in Sweden) would cover this.

[74-911]

Homeowners insurance generally includes windstorm coverage which covers tornadoes, hail damage, etc. I don't know about other states but in TX if you live in one of the counties which are directly exposed to the gulf of Mexico, windstorm is excluded from the usual homeowner coverage and must be purchased separately at a considerably higher price.

[mattdavis11]

The government could help out, it all depends on the situation. If a whole town gets mowed down by a storm, the federal government will most likely pitch in. As 74 said, insurance coverage from state to state, county to county, etc... can vary. Tornados typically target trailer homes and as a result a lot of people are SOL because they can't afford insurance.

Sometimes a family will insure a home, but not it's contents. What is covered is largely dependent on what the insured tells the insurer to insure them for. Lein holders also play a huge roll in the scheme of things, in some cases the note holder tells the home owner what coverage he/she has to carry.

[74-911]

Originally Posted by mattdavis11

Tornados typically target trailer homes and as a result a lot of people are SOL because they can't afford insurance.

There is a theory which appears to be plausible that mobile homes cause tornadoes....

[Aerkuld]

Not to appear unsympathetic but I have heard trailer parks refered to as 'Tornado Magnets'. I guess it's a common turn of phrase?

[kstar]

Originally Posted by mattdavis11

>>> snip . . .

Tornados typically target trailer homes and as a result a lot of people are SOL because they can't afford insurance.

. . . snip . . . .

The "intelligent tornado theory"?

Tornados have no propensity to develop near mobile homes, regular homes, farms or ranches. They do have a greater chance of damaging or destroying weaker structures.

No joke, I once had a relationship with a girl who believed her home was protected from tornadoes because she lived in an upscale neighborhood. I know, that makes me look stupid too for having such a relationship.

edit: BTW, Theodore Fujita, the tornado expert who devised the Fujita Scale for tornado intensity has said that it is possible that dense urban environments weaken tornados in two way: 1) large areas of concrete can be warmer than non-developed regions and this warmth can weaken a tornado; and 2) The typical structural strength of concrete and reinforced structures may actually grate against the tornado's base thus causing some weakening. (This paraphrased from this link: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_096b.html )

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by kstarnes

The "intelligent tornado theory"?

Tornados have no propensity to develop near mobile homes, regular homes, farms or ranches. They do have a greater chance of damaging or destroying weaker structures.

No joke, I once had a relationship with a girl who believed her home was protected from tornadoes because she lived in an upscale neighborhood. I know, that makes me look stupid too for having such a relationship.

edit: BTW, Theodore Fujita, the tornado expert who devised the Fujita Scale for tornado intensity has said that it is possible that dense urban environments weaken tornados in two way: 1) large areas of concrete can be warmer than non-developed regions and this warmth can weaken a tornado; and 2) The typical structural strength of concrete and reinforced structures may actually grate against the tornado's base thus causing some weakening. (This paraphrased from this link: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_096b.html )

Just tell us she was hot, it's ok.

Tornados aren't attracted to trailer parks, but the media are. An entire row of decimated trailers is much more dramatic than a house missing it's roof. Of course, a powerful tornado (F5) doesn't leave anything standing.

Living in KS, tornado coverage with homeowner's insurance is a given. It doesn't even cost extra.

Greensburg, KS one year ago.

[MRM]

Tornados affect trailer partks more than regular neighborhoods because trailer houses are so much easier for the wind to destroy. The same winds that destroys a trailer house might only tear the shingles off a regular house. So when a tornado goes through an area the damage makes it look like it hit the poorest areas worst, because the least substantial buildings get damaged the most.

[JBO]

..I've used the tornado, and though it increased horsepower by at least 100, it had no effect on my auto insurance rate...

[cgarr]

If you don't have or cannot get Tornado insurance, and if you are ever hit just make sure the house catches fire! Just like in Michigan I do not have earthquake insurance so most likely it will just go up in flames..

[kstar]

I would guess that tornado insurance is a "good risk" for insurers.

[3.2 CAB]

cgarr, better make sure you have a video of it on fire before the quake, otherwise the insurers will claim the fire was incident to the quake and not pay. The same way they did to a lot of people after Katrina.

[David]

A friend at work had his house leveled by a tornado several years ago. His insurance company (Farmers) paid for the house to rebuilt. He speaks very highly of them to this day.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by kstarnes

I would guess that tornado insurance is a "good risk" for insurers.

Wise man. I've lived in KS my entire life, and never seen a tornado on the ground. Seen many funnel clouds, but at no point have I ever been in real danger from a tornado.

[CurtEgerer]

I investigate tornado damage to buildings. This was one last year where a neighbor's entire house blew off it's foundation (house being demolished in 1st foto) and flew into the house on the left. The people were home since the tornado hit late at night. The little girl in the house literally flew out her 2nd story bedroom window. Her dad told me she said, 'Daddy, I was flying, I was flying". Their infant son was lost. It was pitch black and raining and the house was gone and they didn't even have flashlights. They searched for a half hour and finally heard a noise. He and his neighbor somehow lifted sections of walls and roofs 100 yards from where the house once stood and found the infant on the ground beneath the huge pile, under his crib, unhurt.

2nd foto is the missile damage to the other house and vehicles.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Having both of your children sucked out of your house, then finding them unhurt..........someone was looking out for them that day. Wow.

[CurtEgerer]

Yup. It's tough not to get emotionally involved in some of these. We're just looking at the sticks and stones, but there's always the ruined lives in the background.

[IROC]

We had a good tornado (F4) in Huntsville, AL, back in 1989. A guy I worked with said he was driving along and the vehicle in front of him lifted straight up in the air and was gone. There were also entire apartment buildings blown sideways off of their foundations.

The creepiest thing I ever saw though was when an F5 tornado went through just north of us. The local news film crew was showing some footage of where the tornado went through and I was thinking, "that's not tornado damage, that's a dirt road through the woods!". Come to find out it was tornado damage. The tornado removed the trees and even removed the grass from the ground. Even people in basements were killed in that tornado.

Another tornado went through just north of us and hit a really nice subdivision and destroyed alot of houses. It was even named after the subdivision. It was called the "Anderson Hills" tornado. It went about a mile north of my house:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anderson_Hills_Tornado

[Izze]

Originally Posted by CurtEgerer

I investigate tornado damage to buildings. This was one last year where a neighbor's entire house blew off it's foundation (house being demolished in 1st foto) and flew into the house on the left. The people were home since the tornado hit late at night. The little girl in the house literally flew out her 2nd story bedroom window. Her dad told me she said, 'Daddy, I was flying, I was flying". Their infant son was lost. It was pitch black and raining and the house was gone and they didn't even have flashlights. They searched for a half hour and finally heard a noise. He and his neighbor somehow lifted sections of walls and roofs 100 yards from where the house once stood and found the infant on the ground beneath the huge pile, under his crib, unhurt.

2nd foto is the missile damage to the other house and vehicles.

Wow, now the financial importance diminished slightly, imagine looking in pitch black, in chaos for your lost infant.....

These houses does not really look like trailers? Perhaps not as sturdy as the house we have in Sweden since they need to be sturdy to handle the winters (or the winters we used to have), but still.....

Do you know what was the strength of this tornado was?

btw. thanks guys for the feedback, interesting!

[onewhippedpuppy]

Trust me, I know. The same system that hit Greensburg also hit the small town of Claflin, where my in-laws live. We sat at home, watching the tornados move from town to town on the live weather feed, almost appearing to turn so as to hit each small town on the way, my wife getting more and more scared. They reported damage to Claflin on TV and we were not able to reach her family. When we finally did, they reported damage to their home and family business. We were there by 5 am.

I spent the next two days with very little sleep, helping clean up. With the help of two cranes, one bulldozer and two excavators, we removed a huge steel grain silo from the roof of her father's lumberyard and the adjacent grocery store, then patched the roof holes and fixed the windows. I helped my father in law service the constant stream of customers into his lumberyard, buying plywood and lumber to patch up their homes. We pulled carpet out of a neighbor's flooding basement as the adjacent stream left it's banks. Then we spent the next night in the basement, when the tornados came again.

Hard times, but inspiring ones. People working together, helping each other. Around here at least, the worst times bring out the best in people.