The price of severe weather: Hailstorms, tornadoes cost local counties more than $300,000,000

By Andrew Snyder, asnyder@starlocalnews.com

Published: Thursday, December 6, 2012 2:41 PM CST

Hailstorms and tornadoes have cost Collin and Denton county residents a combined $347,840,000 since 1955, according to a report released by the Insurance Council of Texas (ICT) last week. The report gathered data from around the state on the number of hailstorms and tornadoes and their cost per county over a 57-year period.

“No county has escaped the wrath of Texas weather,” said Paul Yura, a warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service, in a release. “To some degree every county in Texas is susceptible to hailstorms or tornadoes and it can occur during any month of the year.”

The data shows that the northern half of the state is most vulnerable to sever weather, according to Yura.

Tarrant County had the most hail storms by far during the studied time period. The county had 800 hail events – 191 more than Potter County, which had the next largest amount -- at an overall cost of $730,514,500 in damages. Fort Worth is located in Tarrant County.

“Oftentimes, the focus of severe weather in Texas is on hurricanes or tornadoes, but hailstorms cause the bulk of the damage to vehicles, homes and businesses in our state,” said Mark Hanna, an ICT spokesman. “The data shows that every county has experienced hailstorms and the statewide average is just under three hailstorms a year.”

Harris County, which includes Houston, was the leader in tornadoes with 215 occurrences at a estimated cost of $504,676,000. Collin County had 42 reported tornadoes ($16,406,000) during that time frame, while Denton County had 43 ($3,431,000).

Denton County had 360 hail storms do approximately $6,774,500 in damages during that same period. Collin County had 273 hail storms cause a combined $8,172,500 in damages.

Information for the report was compiled by the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA). The complete list of hailstorms by county and an interactive map can be found at http://www.insurancecouncil.org/facts/hailstormbycounty.pdf. The tornado map and data tables can be found at http://www.insurancecouncil.org/facts/tornadoesbycounty.pd.

The ICT is a state trade association with approximately 500 members.