D.M. insurers weather deluge of storm claims

The deadliest tornado year in the U.S. since 1925 has brought a deluge of claims for property and casualty insurers in Des Moines, but weather experts and insurance executives don’t believe the heavier losses signal a new weather paradigm. The United States generally has about 1,200 tornadoes in any given year. A preliminary count indicates 1,076 had already touched down as of May 17, with 875 of them occurring in April, according to the National Weather Service. The death toll from those tornadoes was 450 at mid-week, according to the Insurance Information Institute, second only to 1925, when tornadoes killed 747 people.