Insurance Claims Up After SC Storms
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004 PropertySunday’s storms have not led to a flood of insurance claims, Columbia-area agency executives said Monday. As of Monday afternoon, a total of 50 claims had been filed in Lexington and Richland counties with State Farm, Farm Bureau, Allstate and Nationwide insurance companies. “We saw a minimal increase (in claims) but not anything near catastrophe,” said Allison Wright, executive director of the S.C. Insurance News Service. Claims ranged from flooded basements to total losses after lightning struck homes. Wright did not have a cost estimate for the damage. Nearly 4,000 owners of homes and businesses filed claims for nearly $10 million after January’s ice storm in the Midlands. The state spent twice that much in 1989 to replace highway signs damaged by Hurricane Hugo, which caused $7 billion in damages in today’s dollars.
