Do You Remember The Great Derecho of 2012 in Northwest Ohio?

Insurance is a bit like having an airbag in your truck - you know you need it, but you’re not sure when, and you’d just as soon not find out. This is a retelling of the day many people “found out” about the quality of their insurance policy: June 29, 2012, the day of the Great Derecho.

Friday, June 29, 2012 started like a day typical of the summer of 2012 - hot, dry, and sunny. Those placid conditions changed rapidly as a cluster of rapidly intensifying thunderstorms formed near South Bend, Indiana, and began to move towards Ohio. Conditions were perfect that afternoon for the formation of a derecho, the name the National Weather Service gives to a long-lived line of thunderstorms that causes damage in a path at least 240 miles long.

The line of storms was nearly 50 miles wide as it approached Fort Wayne at between 40 and 50 miles per hour, and winds at ground level were already gusting at close to 90 miles an hour. The airport at Fort Wayne measured a gust at 91 miles an hour at 3:00pm, and the when the announcer on WOWO Radio, which I was monitoring for damage reports mentioned as much, I knew two things: we were going to get it, and get it soon.

By 3:30, western Putnam County was receiving the brunt of this monster storm, and by 3:40, the wind was howling in Ottawa. I had just shut down the computer server to avoid having to deal with potential lightning damage when I saw the trees along Main Street begin to bend and the front door was sucked open by a tremendous rush of the wind. Securing it, I watched, fascinated, at all manner of debris flowing to the east down Main Street, as though on the way to Findlay (in a sense, it was!). Plastic barrels bounced past, tumbling and spinning, accompanied by large flower pots rolling along, tree limbs and branches of all sizes, shingles and bit of shingles, and finally an entire section of standing seam metal roofing which clattered by and came to rest wrapped around the clock in front of the Courthouse. Then the power went out, and soon after, the raging wind began to subside.

Later estimates of damage done by the National Weather Service showed that winds of near 100 miles per hour in velocity struck Putnam County, causing damage comparable to that seen in an EF1 rated tornado, but over an area dozens of miles wide. One of my clients experienced the speed of the damage occurring first-hand: he was working on a piece of equipment on the edge of his field when he heard the first howls of the gusting winds. As he looked up, he saw trees in a woods about 100 yards away begin to bend and sway, and he turned and ran for the house, reaching it just as the first bits of shingle debris from the roof that used to be on his outbuilding began striking him in the back and neck.

That client was the first of many we would take care of during the first part of July, at first by lantern and generator lighting. By the evening of the day after the storm, I delivered 50 handwritten loss reports to one of my adjusters who lived near Columbus Grove, and that number would continue to grow, until we had nearly 275 claimsreported from this single storm.

I have always been glad that I represented insurance companies with adjusters who lived nearby, and the aftermath of the Great Derecho proved their value, as they were in contact with my clients and writing initial claims checks within hours of the end of the storm. Two of my companies, Erie Insurance Group and Hastings Mutual Insurance Company, sent additional claims adjusters to stay in the area for a couple of weeks to handle the large number of claims rapidly, and both of the companies granted expanded authority to their agents to handle claims, so I was able to settle over 80 of them without even requiring the visit of an adjuster.

Despite the number and severity of the claims presented, I’m proud to say that all but a handful of my clients had their claims settled and had checks in-hand within ten days of the storm hitting us. The companies I represent paid out nearly $3,000,000 in losses to my clients, and did so rapidly and fairly. I’m proud of how we took care of our clients after the Great Derecho, and that when they “found out” about the quality of their insurance coverage, they were glad they had trusted us to take care of them.

If you would like to learn more about how we can serve your auto, home, life, or business insurance needs and receive free quotes, please contact us by calling 419-523- 5000 or send us a website message at any time.

We’ll be glad to take care of you, too!