WICHITA UPDATE #1
Cost of county hail damage tops $1.5 million
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BY ROY WENZL AND STAN FINGER
The Wichita Eagle
"LOOKS TOTALY BUSTED" 
Heather Blanke and her insurance adjuster Duane Haltom of Safeco Insurance look at the hail damage her 2008 Honda Accord suffered during Wednesday night's hailstorm. Her car was parked at her mother's house on University east of Friends University during the storm. She said it hailed for 30 minutes straight. Haltom said the damage to Heather's car was extensive and the car may be totalled.
Kevin Ten Eyck/Courtesy
Morning after hail damage near Maple & Martinson
The hail storm Wednesday caused at least $1.5 million in damage in Sedgwick County, according to preliminary estimates compiled by the Kansas Division of Emergency Management.
But preliminary numbers about claims, released by major insurance companies on Friday, show the toll might go substantially higher.
State Farm Insurance alone projects it will receive calls from 7,000 clients in Sedgwick County about damaged cars.
And that's just the cars. Insurance companies are getting thousands of calls from clients telling them about tattered rooftops, pockmarked siding and dimpled cars.
State Farm officials quoted one of their agents in Wichita, Don Payne, as saying "I've had several customers into the office who have said their automobile now looks like a golf ball with all the hail dimples."
State Farm also warns customers to beware of scams.
"As an agent, after every storm I unfortunately always hear stories of people who have paid a substantial amount of money up front to repair firms, only to have the 'repair firm' skip town," said State Farm agent Mike Dillmon. "I always tell my customers to make sure they use local, reputable vendors that will be around after the others leave town."
The Better Business Bureau serving Southeast, Central and Western Kansas also said it has received calls about roofers stopping at random and offering estimates.
In most cases, the contractor was not from the Wichita area. Roofing contractors need to be licensed and insured in the area, according to the bureau.
Insurance claims
Hail as large as baseballs and tennis balls hammered neighborhoods in Wichita and areas north and east of the city, weather officials said.
Governor Mark Parkinson has signed a State of Disaster Emergency declaration for six counties hit by severe thunderstorms and high straight-line winds on Wednesday. Named in the declaration are Allen, Anderson, Bourbon, Franklin, Linn and Sedgwick counties.
The reports coming in to insurance companies show a numerical snapshot, not only of the damage they have found so far, but what it might be when finally tallied.
By Friday afternoon, Farmers Insurance Group of Companies had received calls on about 2,790 claims, including for autos, homes and businesses, said Jerry Davies, a company spokesman.
He said the number will rise.
Farmers has 55 people working with clients who suffered damage.
State Farm spokeswoman Tamara O'Connor said they had received 2,000 auto claims and 500 homeowner, rental, condo and business claims by Friday afternoon.
"We think it's going to go much higher," she said.
About 300 State Farm agents and catastrophe team members are now working the damaged areas in Sedgwick County. "We are committed to being there to keep our promises and take care of our customers during this time of need," O'Connor said.
American Family Insurance received more than 2,500 claims from customers whose homes or cars were damaged, the company said in a statement, and it anticipates more than 5,000 total claims.
The company said it was sending a catastrophe team to the area.
Allstate, another large insurer in the area, did not want to release numbers or projections, in part "because many times, people don't even find some of their damage until days later," said Nicole Alley, a company spokeswoman.
But she said the damage will be substantial, and the company has sent members of its national catastrophe team to Wichita.
Butler Co. damage
Butler County officials are still assessing damage.
Preliminary reports suggest "isolated pockets" of damage, said Butler County Emergency Management director Jim Schmidt.
At Kellogg and Andover Road in Andover, "they got half-dollar sized hail for 20 minutes," Schmidt said. "That'll do some serious damage to your roof, windows and siding.
"A lot of people with supposedly permanent siding found out that it's not."
Schmidt said large hail was also reported in Rose Hill, Augusta and rural areas.
"But it was nothing like they had in Wichita," he said.
Reach Roy Wenzl at 316-268-6219 or rwenzl@wichitaeagle.com.
