Texas storms in April and May result in paid residential property losses of nearly US$900 million, state insurance council reports

Severe storms in Texas in April and May of this year have resulted in paid residential property losses close to US$900 million from 114,000 claims, the Insurance Council of Texas (ICT) said on Thursday.

Beginning in late March, multiple severe thunderstorms rolled across the state, producing large hail, tornadoes and heavy rainfall, the ICT said in a press release. The string storm season ended in late May and early June with flooding from the Red River to the Texas coast.

“Windstorm losses in both April and May were much higher than in 2013 and 2014,” said Mark Hanna, a spokesperson for the ICT, in the release. “There wasn’t one catastrophic storm that caused all of the damage. It was a non-stop pattern of severe storms that literally blanketed the entire state.”

While paid residential property losses in April and May were nearly US$900 million, not including business or auto claims, in 2014, both months accounted for only 72,000 claims and US$650 million in paid losses, the ICT said.

Related: Drenching storms easing as Texas takes stock of biggest deluge since deadly May flooding

Texas homeowners and businesses also reported almost 8,000 flood claims to the National Flood Insurance Program from the spring storms. In comparison, the number of flood claims from all of Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma for the same time period was 579. With 95% of the claims settled, flood losses to homes and businesses amounted to more than US$400 million. Texas auto insurers said that the losses from vehicles submerged in flood waters amounted to an additional US$300 million.

In June, the rainfall suddenly stopped and by the end of the summer, wildfires started erupting in north and central Texas, with the Bastrop area suffering the worst, including the loss of nearly 60 homes.

“As soon as fall arrived, the drought-like conditions turned to another round of severe flooding in much of central and southeast Texas,” Hanna said. “Record rainfall flooded homes and submerged vehicles in the Austin and Houston areas. Total auto insurance losses for 2015 could reach US$1 billion.”