Thousands of Tennesseans impacted by devastating March and April tornadoes have turned to insurance companies for relief. And, after the novel coronavirus pandemic shuttered businesses across the state, business owners are doing the same.

A powerful tornado with winds reaching 115 mph cut a path from Montebello to East North Street on Saturday night, uprooting massive trees, tearing apart business facades and leaving thousands without power.

A storm is rising, and it isn’t the type which causes damage to homes and vehicles. It causes damage of a much more insidious nature. Following a storm or other natural disaster, canvassers hired by the “hail cartel”—lawyers or opportunistic general contractors—can be found blanketing a neighborhood and knocking on doors.

Recent GEICO and Safeco messages to a Denver, Colo., body shop stand in contrast to rival leading insurers that have agreed to reimburse time and materials spent disinfecting vehicles against the COVID-19 coronavirus.

The COVID-19 outbreak has had a tremendous impact on every aspect of life in the United States. Like most companies, the insurance industry has had to drastically alter the way it does business.

The tornadoes and storms that swept through Southeast Tennessee on Easter night toppled or damaged more than 6,200 homes and commercial buildings and left more than 1,300 cars in need of repair, according to initial insurance claims filed in the first week after the April 12-13 storms.

Staying at home and closing nonessential businesses during the COVID-19 crisis has resulted in one major benefit for people who still need to drive their vehicles: fewer cars on the road. But the question is: Will the decrease in vehicle use ultimately result in lower auto losses for insurers?

Over the past several weeks, there have been numerous aerial photos of some of the nation’s largest highway systems — devoid of vehicles. The sight of tens of miles of ramps, junctions and straightaways with no visible cars is startling, almost a made-for-Hollywood view.

For the second Monday in a row, people across the South are waking up to storm damage caused by extreme winds, hail and tornadoes. Deadly tornadoes struck the same region on Easter.

Boston’s South End neighborhood was recovering Wednesday after a water main break flooded streets and buildings and forced residents to evacuate despite social distancing measures in place. The leak, caused by an overpressurized water line, submerged vehicles and caused the road to buckle near 500 Harrison Ave.

The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) has published its own critical review of the auto insurance premium relief measures insurance companies have offered in the past few weeks in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that while some insurers have been incredibly supportive, others have been slow to respond to calls for lowered premiums.

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has ordered insurers to return premiums from certain lines to businesses and consumers. This has raised pressure on those insurers to take larger steps to reduce customer financial burden caused by COVID-19.

More than 50 cars were involved in a massive pileup crash on the inbound Kennedy Expressway at North Avenue in just one of more than a dozen crashes reported Wednesday morning.

Empty roads in the United States and Europe are tempting drivers to go out and shift into high gear. From Los Angeles to New York, London and Berlin, coronavirus lockdowns have drained traffic from normally crowded roads.

At least 16 people were killed after tornadoes began ripping through the South on Easter, destroying homes and storefronts and leaving over 1 million people without power from an intense storm system now headed towards the Mid-Atlantic.