State Farm has paid $5B for weather-related catastrophes

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — As a summer of wildfires, tropical storms and hurricanes followed a spring of relentless tornadoes and hail storms, State Farm Insurance paid its customers $5 billion to repair, rebuild and replace cars, homes and other property damaged by weather-related catastrophes so far this year.

State Farm is the nation’s largest insurer of homes and autos, and it is expecting 2011 to be one of the company’s busiest years on record for catastrophe losses.

Through Sept. 23, State Farm agents and claim representatives have helped policyholders on more than 970,000 catastrophe claims, stretching from wildfires in western Texas to storm damage in Maine. The company’s catastrophe claims work is on top of the 11-12 million other auto, home and business claims reported to the company in a typical year.

The $5-billion customer payment figure accounts for all catastrophes occurring in 2011 and any residual payments made on catastrophes from prior years.