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By Karina Gonzalez and Roger Miller, The Pantagraph, Bloomington, Ill. |
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McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Aug. 11--BLOOMINGTON -- Bloomington-based insurance companies worked Friday to process dozens of claims from Thursday's brief but violent storm that caused what appeared to be more than $3.5 million in damage to dozens of properties stretching from Bloomington's west side to Danvers but no injuries.
Country Financial received 47 claims on Friday from damage to homes, sheds and businesses, and another 15 claims were filed for damage to vehicles, according to spokeswoman Chris Anderson. The majority of the claims are a result of trees that fell on homes and other property.
"The storm that came through was very isolated to the west edge of Bloomington," she noted. "Two subdivisions in that area were affected."
State Farm agents on Friday also were working to process claims that poured in that day. However, claims figures were not available, said Missy Dundov, a State Farm spokeswoman.
"It's just too early; they (claims) are jumping quickly," she said.
Straight-line winds up to 90 mph, likely more than an inch of rain and 1.5-inch hail pummeled an area stretching from Danvers along Illinois 9 and Old Peoria Road to Bloomington for about five to 10 minutes around 4:30 p.m., authorities said.
Curtis Hawk, director of the McLean County Emergency Management Agency, on Friday night was processing data collected by emergency crews that canvassed the area Thursday and Friday.
His reports indicated 108 homes, mostly in the Apollo Acres area, sustained about $1 million in damage, including vehicles but not trees or other vegetation.
Reports from commercial properties were less complete, but he estimated the damage to them probably exceeded $2.5 million. That does not including merchandise such as the trailers at Blain's Farm and Fleet.
There were no injuries apart from a motorist who declined treatment after an accident caused by one of those trailers being blown into the street, Hawk said.
"The fire chiefs expected a lot of people to be injured because so many people were at work," Hawk said.
Hawk stressed that his estimates are compiled for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and are independent of whatever the insurance claims will be.
More than 100 people assisted Hawk's office in search and damage assessment efforts. They came from the Bloomington, Normal, Bloomington Township, Carlock, Dale Township and Danvers Township fire departments and Emergency Management Agency officials from Logan and Douglas counties and Chicago.
State Farm is urging customers to call their agents if their property sustained damage, Dundov said. Generally speaking, damage to a home or property such as shed or garage, is covered by homeowners insurance. But when a storm knocks trees down and those trees cause no structural damage, it's up to the homeowner to pay for cleanup.
Country Financial has one exception: The insurer will cover up to $500 of cleanup costs for a down tree that did not cause damage but fell within 250 feet of the dwelling and is blocking a driveway or a handicapped entrance or exit, said Anderson.
Hawk said fallen trees, limbs and brush in the affected areas of Dale, Danvers and possibly Allin townships should dragged to the road's edge for pickup by township crews. That does not apply to other townships, he said.
Residents are reminded not to burn any vegetation, he said.
Structural rubble likely will be handled through insurance claims, he said.
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