Insured losses could top $500 million, firm says

Last week's storm is expected to be the costliest in decades for the Northwest, with more than 32,000 insurance claims filed and more likely, a leading trade group said Wednesday.

The NW Insurance Council, a Seattle-based group representing 60 insurance companies, said it's too soon to put a dollar figure on total damage from the storm, but it's certain to be high.

AIR Worldwide, a Boston-based risk-modeling company, estimates that the storm did more than $500 million in damage to insured property. That would put losses well above the Inauguration Day storm of Jan. 20, 1993, which caused $244 million damage in 2006 inflation-adjusted dollars.

"What's unusual about this storm is the geographic area that was hit," said Jeff Aeschliman, a spokesman at State Farm Insurance. "Typically, windstorms are a little more concentrated in terms of their damage. We're seeing severe claims from the Puget Sound region all the way to Eugene, Oregon."

State Farm has received more than 4,700 claims in Washington and 1,400 claims in Oregon, Aeschliman said. Claims range from fallen trees on houses to missing roof shingles. Some are pitting neighbor against neighbor.

One of the more common questions that insurance adjusters are hearing has to do with responsibility for a fallen tree. Each homeowner's insurance covers damage to their property, no matter whose tree it was.

The only exception is if the tree was diseased or dead and the neighbor whose yard it was growing in knew that and did nothing about it, said Judy Thompson, a catastrophe-claims technical consultant with Seattle-based Safeco.

"Unfortunately up here in the Northwest, we have a lot of pine trees," Thompson said. "The roots in pine trees grow shallow and out, and it doesn't take much wind to blow them over."

Meanwhile, representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) arrived in Washington state last week to help with recovery efforts from November flooding, spokesman Mark Clemons said. But the federal agency has not received a request for help with the latest storm, he said.

Counties throughout the state continue to report damage to Gov. Christine Gregoire's office, spokesman Lars Erickson said. After all reports are in, the state and FEMA will send inspection teams to the counties to determine whether a federal disaster declaration is warranted, Erickson said, but he did not know how long that might take.

King County's emergency-management office has received reports of $8 million in structural damage and $1.5 million damage to personal property. Businesses have reported $307,000 in structural damage and $752,000 in lost inventory.

Spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said King County is asking homeowners and business owners to call 800-523-5044 to report damage. The phone line will be staffed from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Friday.

Times staff reporters Susan Gilmore and Ralph Thomas contributed to this report.

Amy Martinez: 206-464-2923 or amartinez@seattletimes.com