WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – As many Kansans continue cleaning up from this weekend’s storms, a new report from Bloomberg finds storm damage throughout the country steadily increasing. Statewide, the Kansas Insurance Department continues to see millions of dollars in payouts.

In 2023, the state’s insurance department reported nearly 145,000 storm damage claims resulting in about $443 million in storm claim losses paid out by insurance companies. The recent round of storms that tore through several areas, including towns in Harvey County, left plenty of work for companies like Wray Roofing, Inc. and Shield Roofing. In Newton, the roofers report working around the clock since Sunday.

“There has been a large volume of calls,” summarized Deven Phillips with Shield Roofing.

Representing Wray Roofing, Kent Jost reported pulling crews off of regularly scheduled jobs, “just to make sure everybody stays dry and until insurance can get out and get everything adjusted.”

The local roofing companies reported seeing most of the damage from wind and hail.

“Wind does the most damage. Hail is kind of something that not very many people know until it is on the car,” Phillips said. “But, yeah, hail’s been a pretty big factor and it’s starting to increase in size, duration of it, and frequency.”

The companies agree that numerous claims from last can be expected in an active-weather state like Kansas, and they share some advice.

“You don’t want to file a claim preemptively and not actually have enough damage to where now, you’re going to have a negative strike against you,” Phillips said. “So always call out a qualified, trusted, contractor to evaluate those damages first before actually calling the insurance.”

This storm season, if you or someone you know is having trouble with an insurance claim, you can contact the Kansas Department of Insurance’s Consumer Assistance Division toll-free at 1-800-432-2484, by email at kdoi.complaints@ks.gov or online at www.insurance.kansas.gov for any claims-related questions or concerns.

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Two Kansas mothers who were murdered in the Oklahoma panhandle were found dead in a chest freezer buried in the ground, according to police.

Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley disappeared on March 30 and were found dead on April 14, but authorities have released few other details in the case.

However, search warrants recently filed in district court in Texas County, Oklahoma, revealed police discovered their bodies in a freezer in the county, Oklahoma City NBC affiliate KFOR reported Tuesday.

Cops also said they found jeans, sweatshirts, T-shirts, a black jacket, cloth gloves, ball caps, duct tape and a sheathed black knife in the freezer, according to KFOR. Police believe several of the items had blood on them.

Butler, 27, and Kelley, 39, were traveling from Hugoton, Kansas, through the panhandle to pick up Butler’s two children for a birthday party. Butler and the children’s father, Wrangler Rickman, had shared custody of the kids.

Kelley was traveling with Butler as a court-approved supervisor of the custody exchange. Rickman was at a rehab facility in Oklahoma City at the time, and his mother, Tifany Adams, had custody of the children.

Adams was one of five people arrested and charged with killing Butler and Kelley. Her boyfriend Tad Cullum and their friends Cole and Cora Twombly were also arrested, along with a man named Paul Grice.

Grice was arrested several days after the first four suspects. Police said he was trying to get out of the country before cops could catch up with him, KFOR reported. According to court documents, Grice asked someone “how to get a guy and his family” to Mexico and how long DNA would remain on clothing in a dirt hole 15 feet deep.