Catastrophe modelers Karen Clark & Company (KCC) estimate damage resulting from the Ring of Fire weather system between May 11 and May 16 will inflict $2.5 billion in insurance claims to residential and commercial properties and automobiles.
Many states east of the Rockies- including Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia- were badly affected. KCC estimates these 12 states will see insured losses in excess of $100 million.
A setup meteorologists refer to as a Ring of Fire, most of the storm activity was along an arc from Texas to Kansas, through the Ohio Valley to the Mid-Atlantic states.
The event was characterised by widespread instability and consistent but moderate southerly flow over the Great Plains. Due to a lack of strong upper level winds, there was a limited number of rotating supercells, and as such, most of the damage was caused by hail and straight-line winds rather than tornadoes, KKC says.
Over 900 wind gusts of over 58mph, 500 hail events and 28 tornadoes were reported all together. Several gusts in excess of 100mph and hail was also recorded across all regions, with several reporting baseball size hail stones.
Additionally, there were over 600,000 power outages in Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states and tens of thousands more across the US due to high winds, downed trees and power lines.
