NEVER in the long history of insurance have insurance services played a more vital role than in 1950, the year of the big winds. Never before have so many policyholders benefited.

No sooner did last year get under way than the big blows started; and they kept right on buffeting one part of the nation and another until almost year’s end. The tinkle and crash of shattering glass, the tearing away of roofs, the rending of walls—all to the accompaniment of the howling, savage elements—became an all too familiar tune. For the uninsured, that tune sometimes became a screech of financial ruination.

Truly, for the insurance industry, 1950 became a challenge and an opportunity—a challenge to function efficiently in the face of an almost inconceivable multiplicity of work details and an opportunity to fulfill its obligations by paying every just claim as promptly as humanly possible. Playing an important part in the meeting of the emergencies was operation of the Catastrophe Plan—the plan in which hundreds of adjusters, from coast to coast, were rushed to stricken areas, where they worked tirelessly at their jobs in the public interest. Still other men, of course, were given special training for the tremendous task.

The value of insurance—and the soundness and dependability of the industry as a whole—was proved time and again throughout this "windiest" of all years in U. S. history. Frankly, the industry as a whole did itself proud, and every member of it should take personal pride and deep satisfaction in that fact.

A nationwide survey shows that nearly a million losses totaling almost $130,000,000 resulted from the major 1950 storms. That is the estimate, though the exact figures may not be known until 1951 nears an end.

One storm alone, the November windstorm in 11 northeastern states, resulted in the largest number of insurance claims from a single disaster in history, according to the National Board of Fire Underwriters. In insurance dollar losses it was exceeded only by the San Francisco fire of 1906.

Here’s the blustery 1950 picture, with an assist on the facts from the General Adjustment Bureau, the Western Adjustment and Inspection Company and the National Board (storms being grouped geographically rather than in chronological order and with no attempt to list all storms) :

In the Far West there were two major storms. In Phoenix, Arizona, thunder, lightning, high winds and pounding hail combined to deliver a devastating wallop. The estimate: 10,000 claims involving some $3,000,000 in insurance loss. Then in the Sacramento, California, area, storms brought an estimated 6,000 claims and a paid insurance loss of $525,000.

In the Southwest there were many storms throughout the storm season which produced some 73,000 involved losses, with insurance payments approximating $8,800,000. Since many areas were hit by storms on more than one occasion, it is impossible to separate the damage from each individual storm, but the following areas were hard hit: Abilene, Texas; Odessa, Texas; Little Rock, Arkansas; Enid, Oklahoma; Stiliwater, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma City.

In the Southeast there were many smaller storms which called for special attention, but the hurricane was the feature of the year. It has been estimated that some 23,000 claims resuited in a paid loss of approximately $ 10,000,000. There were two smaller hurricanes which did relatively little damage.

The Rocky Mountain area had more than its usual quota of hail and wind storms, as the storm season started much earlier than usual. However, there were no single operations which could be classed among the catastrophes of the year.

In midyear windstorms shrieked across Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Nebraska, with an estimated loss ranging as high as $5,000,000 and estimated claims of 100,000.

The big storm of the year—the "granddaddy of all blows"—was the November windstorm that ripped thunderously across 11 northeastern states and created some 750,000 claims with an insurance loss estimated at upwards of $100,000,000, including damage to plate glass windows, automobiles and boats. The wind velocity ranged up to a maximum of 112 miles an hour, and claims as high as $300,000 have resulted. The unprecedented number of claims resulting from this blow have necessarily required a longer period of time for the adjusting operation, and all claim facilities have been swamped. Not only has the Bureau’s business required the assembly of the greatest number of adjusters working on a single storm operation, but company loss departments have been forced to augment their staffs and work on an overtime basis in an effort to expedite claim payments.

So much for 1950, a howler from beginning to end.

A long time ago, Charles Dudley Warner (and not Mark Twain, as often supposed) wrote that "Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." But Mr. Warner was wrong. Insurance companies are doing something about it—not stopping the winds, of course; but through payments to policyholders, they’re helping heal the awful wounds left when the winds stop punching.

[04-01-03004-0064 Fireman’s Fund Archives]