About $2.5 billion in insurance claims will emerge after a spell of severe weather in parts of the US, says catastrophe modelling firm Karen Clark & Co.

The estimate relates to damage to residential and commercial properties and automobiles from a spell of tornadoes, hail and strong winds between May 11 and 16.

KCC estimates that 12 states will likely see insured losses exceeding $100 million: Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

For Bermuda reinsurers, it means some substantial claims will be coming in with hurricane season about to get under way on June 1.

Last week’s weather system spawned over 900 reports of wind gusts in excess of 58mph, over 500 hail reports, and 28 tornadoes, KCC said.

Several microbursts caused wind gusts over 100mph. Hail was reported across the regions with several reports of baseball size hail stones.

“Most of the storm activity was along an arc from Texas to Kansas, through the Ohio Valley to the Mid-Atlantic states, a set-up meteorologists refer to as a ‘ring of fire’,” KCC said.