FORT WAYNE, Ind.- A sudden storm that rolled through northern Indiana last week likely left behind tens of millions of dollars of damage to homes and businesses in Fort Wayne, an economist said.
Michael Hicks told The Journal Gazette that property damage from a storm like last Friday's could easily add up to $20 million.
Hicks, director of Ball State's Bureau of Business Research, said wind damage is the hardest to calculate although he has some experience after conducting a Hurricane Katrina damage estimate for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
"Wind damages tend to be enormous," he said.
Costs can range from plywood and generators bought for repairs, to money spent to restock refrigerators and lost sales at businesses, Hicks said. If 25,000 homes lost power for 96 hours or more, the cost of replacing the food in the freezer and refrigerator would total about $12.5 million, he said.
"Power being off for a very brief time can impose huge costs," he said.
There's also the lost wages from work missed due to the storm, said Andrew Teel, a Fort Wayne lawyer who handles employee rights cases. Workers who aren't salaried or represented by a union with a severe weather agreement can't recover lost pay, he said.
"If you have a very generous employer, or that business has some type of business interruption coverage, there could be some compensation, but other than that, there's no back salary they can collect," Teel said.
"It's not like they're trying to stick it to the little guy," he added. "It's just one of those things. If your employer doesn't get paid, you don't get paid."
Insurance companies are dealing with thousands of claims prompted by fallen trees, missing shingles, dented cars and spoiled food. But industry experts said rates aren't necessarily going to go up because of the storm.
State Farm had received 2,300 homeowners claims from Indiana as of midday Tuesday, spokeswoman Angie Rinock said. State Farm insures 1 in 4 homes in Indiana.
Indiana Michigan Power spokesman David Mayne said the storm could help justify the utility's rate increase request before the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. The proposal would raise the typical ratepayer's bill from $86 a month to $106.
"We can never budget for a storm, especially one of this magnitude," Mayne said. "We don't put away millions of dollars."
Mayne estimated the storm will cost the utility more than $12 million, replacing broken utility poles, repairing power line damage and paying overtime wages and living expenses for out-of-town work crews. That would be more than the ice storm that hit Fort Wayne in December 2008.
"It's difficult to say what the total cost will be. But just based on anecdotal information, it's going to cost more," he said. "There's overtime, double time for the holiday and other expenses."
Utility officials said crews may have to work into the weekend to completely restore electricity to thousands of homes and businesses in the Fort Wayne area.
Indiana Michigan Power said power was restored to all but 15,500 customers in the Allen County area by noon Wednesday.
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