Last Week’s Storms a Taste of Things to Come?

The tornadoes, hail and strong winds that tore through the Mid-West last week have produced from $1 to $2 billion in insured losses, according to the latest report from EQECAT. The majority of the more than 150 tornadoes in Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Alabama last week took the lives of at least 37 people, 20 of whom were in Kentucky. However the death toll may continue to rise over the coming days. Insurance Information Institute President Bob Hartwig told INN, “It’s likely we’ll see elevated thunderstorms in 2012 as we have the past four years in a row. The question is whether that elevation will include tornadic activity.”