By Suzanne Barlyn
July 24 (Reuters) - A hailstorm that pounded down on a Subaru dealership in Plano, Texas, barely lasted 30 minutes, but left behind a trail of smashed windows, dented hoods and millions of dollars' worth of claims for an insurer to cough up.
Damage to thousands of cars in dealership lots across Texas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and other states are just some of the weather-related losses that have been hitting U.S. property insurers particularly hard in the first half of this year.
"It got everything on the car - roofs, sides, mirrors and back glasses," said Ronnie Cohen, new car director of Subaru of Plano, describing the trail of destruction by golf-ball-sized hail that inflicted at least $4 million in damage to 311 cars plus $500,000 to the dealership building in March.
Weather-related losses loom over the insurance industry, which writes policies for everything from individual homes and cars to large commercial real estate complexes. The profit damage is becoming evident in second-quarter results.
On Thursday, insurer The Travelers Companies Inc reported a 10.4 percent drop in second quarter profit, hurt by higher catastrophe losses.
Those losses, net of reinsurance, rose to $403 million in the second quarter, from $333 million a year earlier, mainly due to wind and hail storms across the United States, Travelers said. Higher investment returns helped offset some of the pain.
Analysts expect similar losses to weigh on American International Group Inc, Allstate Corp, Hartford Financial Services Group Inc and Arch Capital Group Ltd when they announce results in the coming weeks.
All told, U.S. insurers paid out $15.5 billion to cover claims related to severe storms that produced conditions such as hail and fierce winds during the first half of 2017, the second-costliest on record for such damage, according to Aon PLC's reinsurance broker, Aon Benfield.
STEADY STREAM OF STORMS
The bad weather shows no signs of abating.
A steady stream of storm systems that trigger hail and fierce winds has traveled out of the Rocky Mountains and into parts of the central and eastern United States, said Steve Bowen, an Aon Benfield meteorologist. A warmer-than-usual Gulf of Mexico has also helped fuel storms.
"We've seen this type of pattern many times before, but the frequency has been higher this year," Bowen said. "Plus, these events have impacted densely populated areas - which drives the financial loss."
Above average sea-surface temperatures are among factors that could set off a hyper-active Atlantic hurricane season later this year, meteorologists said. They do not predict whether any will make landfall in the United States.