Tornado insured losses at $5 million

? A tornado and storms that hit Lawrence earlier this month caused damages worth about $5 million in insured losses, the Kansas Insurance Department said Friday.

Scott Holeman, a spokesman for the department, said about 180 claims for damages had been made.

“For the most part, people have been getting good responses” from their insurance companies, he said.

Policyholders having trouble getting claims paid should call the department’s consumer division at (800) 432-2484, Holeman said.

Southwest Lawrence was struck May 8. Hardest hit was the Aberdeen South apartment complex at 4700 W. 27th St.

Tornadoes and storms hit the Kansas City area and southeast Kansas on May 4, and Liberal and southwest Kansas on May 16.

Holeman said storm damage in April and May in Kansas had reached about $100 million.

Emergency management officials, meanwhile, said 35 registrations had been made in Douglas County for Federal Emergency Management Agency aid through state and federal assistance programs.

In the 12 Kansas counties with disaster declarations, 978 FEMA registrations had been made, and $904,327 in individual and household funds had been disbursed. About $3.78 million in federal Small Business Administration low-interest disaster loans had been approved.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said she was pleased so far with the quickness with which the federal government had declared disaster areas and helped out.

“We’ve been able to add counties in each of the two subsequent storms to that federal declaration without going through a lot of bureaucratic hoops,” she said.

The federal Disaster Unemployment Assistance program will continue accepting applications from Douglas County residents until June 15. For information, call (800) 621-FEMA.