Average Lightning Claim Costs Up By 25 Percent, But Number Of Claims Continues To Fall

While the destruction caused by tornadoes and hurricanes may grab the headlines, intense lightning storms also take their toll throughout the United States. In fact, lightning strikes cost nearly $1 billion in insured losses in 2012, according to the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.). An analysis of homeowners insurance data by the I.I.I. and State Farm(R) found there were 151,000 insurer-paid lightning claims in 2012, down nearly 19 percent from 2011. The I.I.I. puts the average lightning paid-claim amount at $6,400 in 2012, up 25 percent from 2011. Taken together, these two factors resulted in $969 million in total paid lightning claims, up 1.7 percent from 2011.