American Family Insurance has paid $21.5 million in ice dam-related homeowner claims this spring, mostly around Milwaukee and Madison, a company official told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
That amount represents 15,500 claims between December and March — seven times more than the previous year when ice dam claims were few and brief. This year’s damage is still being assessed according to the paper, but seventeen counties in southeastern Wisconsin have already been approved for federal disaster relief for wintertime problems. No overall damage estimates have yet been tallied.
Wisconsin’s Office of the Commissioner of Insurance does not track homeowner claims information according to the paper, but assistant deputy commissioner Eileen Mallow was quoted as saying, “This is the only year I recall that we had this extent of damage.” State Farm Insurance Companies paid out nearly $1.8 million in Milwaukee-area ice-dam related claims this spring, Jai Barber, public affairs specialist in the insurer’s Milwaukee office told the paper.
“Last March, we didn’t have any disaster claims. This year, we’ve had about 1,100 claims, and now that the snow has melted, claims are starting to pick up,” Barber told the paper.
American Family writes about 25% of the homeowners multiple peril insurance policies in Wisconsin; State Farm has a 13.2% market share according to the report. American Family and State Farm spokesmen told the Sentinel their companies would not cancel coverage or raise policy premiums because of last winter’s ice dam claims, which they consider an unforeseen, extreme situation.
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