United Fire Group says storm claims within expected range

United Fire Group has received an estimated 250 claims resulting from the storms that battered Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri and Texas within the last two weeks.

"About 125 claims are estimated for Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri and an additional 125 claims are relevant to the Texas storms." said Anita Novak, director of investor relations for the Cedar Rapids-based property-casualty insurance company. "That's unchanged from what we estimated last week.

"The losses are not really relevant to any specific event. They are fairly widespread and therefore we view them as within normal expectations and not material."

United Fire's estimated claims exposure is sharply lower than the 4,954 claims received by FBL Financial of West Des Moines through Tuesday. FBL Financial received an estimated 2,020 claims in Iowa, 2,657 in Kansas, 219 claims in Nebraska and 58 in Minnesota.

FBL Financial does not sell property-casualty insurance in Oklahoma, where 24 people died May 20 when a tornado tore through Moore, Okla. State Farm Insurance has received about 6,700 claims from storm and tornado activity in Oklahoma, with the majority of the claims originating in Moore.