The devastating April 2016 hail storm that clobbered north Bexar County helped push the entire state of Texas into record territory, with 2016 setting the mark for the most hail damage losses in the state's history, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
"You could call 2016 a hail of a year," joked Mark Hanna of the Insurance Council of Texas, which represents the state's property insurance companies.
He says total damage in the course of 2016 from hail storms alone topped $5 billion. If you add wind damage, the figure approaches $6 billion.
He says the San Antonio hail storm was the most damaging in the history of the state.
"The City of San Antonio had the costliest hail storm on record," he said, putting the damage from this one storm alone at $1.4 billion
.He says there were 500,000 hail claims filed in 2016.The record damage of 2016 broke a record which had been set--in 2015.
So the big question...will we see increases in our property insurance premiums due to the losses?
Hanna says not necessarily. He says insurance actuaries price in losses over decades, not just in one particular year.
"Insurance companies have good years and bad years," he said. "The last two years have been bad. Previous years were much better, and this year looks like it is going to be a much lighter year."
He says the April 2016 San Antonio hailstorm surpassed a storm that hit Ft. Worth in 1996, which previously was the most damaging in the state's history.