Colorado Second Highest for Hail Damage

Innovative Builders is your professional roofing company to help out with all the repairs you may need over the years. Being an up and coming Colorado company we pride ourselves in having built our roots in commitment, loyalty and hard work. Come every spring in Colorado there is a rush of storms that brings hail, allowing us to show each client that our company is motivated by our cherished relationship with each homeowner. If you haven’t been affected by it yet, then you seem to have hit the sweet spot this year. Whether it is this year, next year, or in a few years to comes Colorado weather has a way of covering the entire state. We are here to help when the weather goes south whether its this year or in the years to come.

Colorado: Target for Hail Damage

The May 2016 National Insurance Crime Bureau ForeCAST Report named Colorado as the second leading state for hail damage claims in the country from 2013 to 2015. With over 182,000 claims, Colorado was superseded by Texas which experienced over 394,000 hail claims. During this period, the top 10 states received 66 percent of all hail claims across the US.

Insurance Policies and Hail Claims

Personal property homeowners policies were most impacted by claims during the years 2013-2015. Clients filed over 50 percent more claims on their residential properties than on their personal automobiles, the objects of the next most affected policies. Clients also filed claims on other policies: Personal Property - Farm, Commercial Multi-Peril, and Personal Property - Fire.

Spike in Storm Activity and Losses

In recent years, the country has suffered blows from intensifying hail, wind, and tornado storms that are impacting an increasing number of regions across the nation. While researchers haggle over the causes of these catastrophic events, the aftermath is indisputable -- widespread damage, injury, and loss of life. The property damage may range from only a shattered window to complete annihilation of structures.

The NOAA’s Severe Storms database tracked over 5,600 major hail storms in 2016, with most of them -- over 1,500 -- occurring in May of that year. Over the past five years, wind and hail damage claims added up to about four out of 10 insured losses nationwide with an average of about $15 billion per year and increasing annually. The nation’s heaviest insured loss event occurred in 2014 with an onslaught of major hailstorms over five days in May that hit across Colorado all the way to Pennsylvania. This cost $2.9 billion in insured losses.

Colorado's Hail Pattern

The period between the middle of April and the middle of September is marked as Colorado’s ruinous hail season. Colorado’s Front Range, the easternmost area of the Southern Rocky Mountains, is in the notorious “Hail Alley” which sees the more hail than anywhere else in North America and most of the planet. Residents can usually expect to encounter three or four catastrophic-level hail storms(causing a minimum of $25 million in insured damages) throughout each year. Over the last decade, Colorado hailstorms have resulted in over $3 billion in insured damage.
Consequently, up to 50 percent of your homeowners insurance premium may be allocated toward covering costs of hail and wind damage expenses. Most auto insurance companies provide for hail damage with comprehensive coverage. Although comprehensive insurance is not required, insurers strongly recommend it for clients who live in an area prone to hail.

Colorado's Most Expensive Hailstorms

Eight of Colorado’s ten most devastating hailstorms impacted the Denver Metro area. It is no wonder as this area has the densest concentration of property in Colorado. Colorado’s worst hailstorm wreaked havoc in 1990 causing over $1 billion in damage (adjusted for inflation).

By Innovative Builders 1-8-2019