Late-winter storms that tore across the central and eastern United States in early March have left the insurance industry tallying insured losses that could reach into the billions, with Aon estimating the damage at low-to-mid-single-digit billions of dollars.
The storm system, which struck in two waves from March 5-7 and March 9-11, brought strong winds, large hail, and 26 confirmed tornadoes across a corridor stretching from Texas to Michigan.
A 6.1-inch hailstone measured in Kankakee, Illinois, may have set a state record, the National Weather Service said, with extreme hail in multiple other northern Illinois locations also potentially surpassing the previous mark of 4.75 inches.
State Farm, the country's largest homeowners' and personal automobile insurer, has received more than 13,000 claims. Spokesperson Tom Hartmann said the most widespread damage was in Illinois, followed by Missouri, with policyholders in more than a dozen states reporting losses.
Hartmann noted that "comparatively larger swaths of the storm involved large hail," which accounted for a greater number of claims than tornado-related filings.
An EF-3 tornado struck Kankakee County on March 10, hitting five counties across two states, with Kankakee, Aroma Park, Lake Village, and DeMotte among the hardest-hit areas, according to Aon.
American Family Insurance said the combination of the tornado with strong winds and heavy rain caused damage to roofs and windows, impacted vehicles, and scattered debris. The carrier has set up a mobile claims site in Bradley.
A separate thunderstorm on March 6-7 spawned four tornadoes in Lower Michigan, including what the NWS called the state's earliest-ever EF-3, with 160mph maximum wind speeds damaging or destroying residences and trees in Union City.
Winds exceeded 60mph on March 10 in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri, while four-inch hail fell in Texas and Missouri. Nearly 1,000 preliminary storm and flooding reports were submitted to the NWS from March 5 through March 11.
The March insured losses arrive against a backdrop of escalating severe convective storm costs nationwide. In its 2026 Climate and Catastrophe Insight report, Aon found that SCS has surpassed tropical cyclones as the costliest insured peril of the 21st century, generating $61 billion in global insured losses in 2025 alone.
The trend has been building for years. Moody's reported that in each of the last three years, US SCS insured losses have exceeded $50 billion. Swiss Re's Balz Grollimund has attributed the rising toll to urbanization in hazard-prone areas, rising asset values, higher construction costs, and factors such as aging roofs.
Moody's has separately noted that US urban and suburban areas have expanded by 20% since 2000, creating a larger target for storm impacts.
The closest recent comparison to the current winter storms is the mid-March 2025 outbreak, which Moody's estimated caused $8 billion to $10 billion in damages across 26 states.
Tornado, hail, and wind reports to date are on pace with the 21st century average, Aon said. The five states with the greatest number of tornadoes in 2025 were Texas at 162, Illinois at 147, Missouri at 120, Mississippi at 111, and Alabama at 72, according to Triple-I.
