With two of the most devastating tornadoes in United States history slamming the Midwest, insurance agencies are having to deal with a surge of claims over personal and property damages.

According to the risk modeling company AIR Worldwide, between May 20 and 27 alone the thunderstorms that have been battering the Midwest have caused an estimated $4 billion to $7 billion in losses to residential, commercial, and industrial properties as well as automobiles.

Home and car insurer State Farm announced in late May that, even before being able to factor in all of the claims from the most recent string of tornadoes, it already had paid out nearly $916,000 to compensate for storm-related damages.

The severity of the Joplin, Mo., tornado is a grim indicator of the massive influx of claims. Only two weeks after the tornado touched down and utterly destroyed the humble town, there had already been over 17,000 claims filed, and that's only from companies accounting for 72 percent of the state's homeowners coverage market.

However, even though the damage to homes and the loss of shelter is what has been emphasized in the news, of those almost 17,000 claims, the largest proportion was filed under personal auto coverage. Almost 9,000 claims, about 53 percent of the total number of claims filed, were car-related.

Another twister that gained a lot of attention in the national headlines was the St. Louis tornado that touched down in late April. Residents in that city had filed a total of 6,795 claims, about one-third of them being filed under auto policies.

Unfortunately, we are only reaching the middle of the severe weather season, and according to the Insurance Information Institute (III), when it's all said and done this year will be, "among the most deadly and expensive for tornadoes [and severe weather] in history," bringing an estimated $4 billion to $10 billion or more in economic loss.

—AJ Register