Homeowners Threatened From Lightning Strikes

Homeowners Threatened From Lightning Strikes

 

The cost of homeowners' claims for damage due to lightning strikes is soaring because of the burgeoning number of high-end electronic items and appliances in the average home, insurers say.

 

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. says that the cost of claims the company paid due to lightning strikes rose 77% between Jan. 2001 and July 2006, even as the number of claims fell in the period by nearly half. Some of the nation's largest insurance companies, including State Farm Insurance Cos. and Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., also say they're experiencing a similar trend.

 

Insurers partly attribute the higher losses to the growing number of home-theater systems, plasma and high-definition television sets, game consoles and personal computers in the average American home — which all can be fried by a surge of voltage in a home's electrical wiring that can occur from a lightning strike. Rising rebuilding costs are also a factor because in the worst instances, lightning torches the house either from overloading appliances or from a direct hit.

 

Read the complete story here…

 

Tell us how you feel about the threat of lightening strikes.  We'd love to hear your opinion.