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The news frequently highlights the disastrous effects of tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires and earthquakes. We see images of homes crushed to rubble, roof-high floods, roaring flames sending tendrils of black smoke into a neighborhood’s sky.
Cracked streets and fallen buildings easily make it to the television screen. While these disasters are horrific and costly, there is one natural disaster that eclipses them all in terms of the almighty dollar: Hail.
Hail as small as a quarter can damage roof shingles. If heavy winds are involved, hail can also damage a house’s windows and siding, causing an estimate of $30,000 per house. Larger hail, of course, can wreak more havoc on property. Golf ball-sized hail can start leaving dents in vehicles and cracks in windshields.
Windshields can be completely smashed with baseball size hail. Crops can also be damaged irreparably, crushed by falling hail. Any size hail can cause damage to plants, the worse damage being if the hailstorm is widespread across the entire field.
Industry sources estimate that annual damage from hailstorms runs in the $8-10 billion range for the United States. In a highly-populated area when people are out and about and have their cars outside of garages, a single hailstorm can cause $1 billion in a day.
In fact, the costliest weather disaster in the entire state of Colorado’s history was a hailstorm that caused $1.4 billion in one event.
People can preserve their finances by having appropriate insurance to protect their homes, vehicles, crops, and other property that could potentially be damaged by hail.
Filing a timely insurance claim can help property owners suffer the least amount possible from costly hail damage.
