Hal Rogers: No offsets for Oklahoma aid

[wercal]

16. Houses are insured against tornados - almost guaranteed

BTW - I would guess that the largest payout insurance companies make in these region is for wind and hail, which is much more common....but they still insure for it.

The actuaries can predict with a fair degree of certainty how many houses will get hit with a tornado each year, and price their coverage accordingly. My policy certainly doesn't have a tornado exception....and I have never heard of that.

A few years ago, the same tornado tore through two towns - Chapman, KS and Manhattan, KS.

Chapman was an older community, where homes were built in the 40's, paid for by the 70's, and passed down to children and grandchildren, clear of a mortgage. Some enjoyed the mortgage free living so much, they dropped insurance over the years. When the tornado hit, all was lost, and the community was devastated. FEMA got involved, Extreme Home Makeover did an episode there, the whole ball of wax. Most could not afford to rebuild...some were trying to rebuild one paycheck at a time...it was a mess.

Manhattan, on the other hand, got hit in a brand new subdivision right next to where I lived. Almost everybody had insurance...and some of the good insurance even covered clean up costs and storage units for possessions. Two years after the storm, all but one house had been rebuilt. It had been my realtor's house...a really good guy and a good realtor. He probably owned his house outright...and didn't carry insurance....so his bare basement is all that is left.