Colorado hail damage
© CBSHail left holes in a car parked at the Colorado Mills
The ferocious hailstorm that battered the Denver area earlier this month, pummeling cars and houses, may end up as the costliest ever recorded in Colorado, insurance officials said.

The Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association estimates the preliminary insurance losses to be at about $1.4 billion, which would exceed the $845.5 million storm of July 20, 2009, and the $1.1 billion storm of July 11, 1990, after costs are adjusted to reflect the current dollar.

The hail damage led to more than an estimated 150,000 auto insurance claims and 50,000 homeowners insurance claims to be filed, according to KUSA-TV.

"The enormous size of the hail hitting densely populated areas of the Denver-Metro during rush hour contributed to the magnitude of damage caused by this storm," Carole Walker of the insurance association told KUSA.


She said that new high-tech cars are are adding to the storm cost. "We have all this cool technology now in the vehicles, that's great, but it also makes it much more expensive to repair and takes longer to repair," she said.

She said these are preliminary estimates, and the storm cost is expected to rise.

"This is still an early snapshot," she said. "Some companies have projected out what they think the claims will be, others have just given us the number of claims that they have. Unfortunately, when you have this magnitude of storm this will be months out as people continue to observe damage, file claims, both for their cars for their homes," Walker told KUSA.