As Hurricane Ike battered the gulf coast last month, it slowly made its way up north and into Ohio, where it existed mostly as a very bad windstorm. With gusts more than 70mph, near hurricane strength, the storm caused more than $550 million in insured losses in Ohio.

According to an Ohio Insurance Institute study, such a loss is the highest damage total for any storm in the state since the Xenia tornado outbreak in 1974.

The group surveyed 24 Ohio property and casualty companies, which reported 121,624 claims to have been received from the storm, which knocked down trees and cut out electricity for hundreds of thousands of residents and businesses throughout the state.

The $553.1 million loss figure, however, may not be entirely accurate and is likely higher. It includes data from insurers that represent 68% of the auto insurance market, 72% of the homeowners insurance market, and 1/3 of commercial lines. They are planning a followup study in six to nine months to collect additional data.

The Xenia tornados of 1974 caused $600 million in damages, which in today's figures would be about $1 billion. Other more recently costly storms in Ohio was the 2006 hail and windstorm in Central Ohio that produced $239.6 million in damages and 45,000 claims.

Of the claims received from the September 14 windstorm, more than 108,000 reported claims came from homeowners whose roofs, siding, windows, and walls ere damaged by toppled trees, which accounted for $460 million in damage. 9,200 claims came from vehicle owners, representing $22.7 million in damage. Commercial claims included those for business interuption, property damage and refrigerated property loses, representing 13,564 claims and $69.1 million.