Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
NHC: Tropical Storm Sally Strengthens to Hurricane
Sep 14 2020 // Update 4:00 pm EST: Louisiana and Mississippi residents were under evacuation orders on Monday as Hurricane Sally churned across the Gulf of Mexico, strengthening to a hurricane ahead of expected landfall on Tuesday, the...
Hurricane Laura Evacuees Protest Slow FEMA Aid
Sep 14 2020 // About two dozen Hurricane Laura evacuees and their advocates marched through the streets of New Orleans on Thursday to protest what they called the “slow response” from the federal government on getting them...
Lake Charles Evacuees Facing Evictions After Hurricane Laura
Sep 14 2020 // Nearly 200 families forced hundreds of miles from their homes when Hurricane Laura struck southwest Louisiana are now facing threats of eviction, an attorney said. Bill Quigley, an attorney at Loyola University’s...
NHC: Tropical Storm Sally Strengthens to Hurricane
Sep 14 2020 // Louisiana and Mississippi residents were under evacuation orders on Monday as former Tropical Storm Sally strengthened to a hurricane status and churned across the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. National Hurricane Center...
Tropical Storm Sally Strengthens; Louisiana Braces for Another Hurricane
Sep 13 2020 // 09/13/2020 06:09 PM— Tropical Storm Sally strengthened off the west coast of Florida on Sunday and was poised to become a category 2 hurricane, bringing the threat of dangerous storm surges and high winds to the U.S....
Hurricane Laura Hit Louisiana Oil Storage Site; No Shortages Expected
Sep 11 2020 // Hurricane Laura caused significant damage at a site holding about 30% of the nation’s store of emergency crude oil, but three other sites still have plenty of petroleum, U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said on...
Post-Hurricane Laura Mosquito Clouds Killing Louisiana Livestock
Sep 11 2020 // Clouds of mosquitoes have been so thick in southwest Louisiana since Hurricane Laura that they’re killing cattle and horses. Farmers in a five-parish area east and northeast of the parishes where the storm made its...
CalFire: 14K Firefighters on the Line at 29 Major Wildfires
Sep 11 2020 // As critical fire weather conditions subsided, firefighters accomplished full containment on one of the many fires burning in the state, according to the latest report from CalFire. Roughly 14,000 firefighters remain on the...
Wildfires Grow in Oregon as 500K Evacuated, Death Toll Rises
Sep 11 2020 // Around half a million people in Oregon evacuated as dozens of extreme, wind-driven wildfires scorched U.S. West Coast states on Friday, destroying thousands of homes and killing at least 16 people, state and local...
Meteorologists Tracking Potential Storm Threats Across Atlantic
Sep 11 2020 // While a tropical storm approaches Bermuda, the threat of more powerful systems is expanding across the Atlantic, from the Gulf of Mexico to Africa. Tropical Storm Paulette probably will become a hurricane on Sept. 13 as it...
Report Urges Urgent Action from Financial Regulators to Address Climate Change
Sep 10 2020 // Yet another report in a long line of reports is out urging urgent action from financial regulators, including insurance regulators, the Federal Reserve and the Securities Exchange Commission. The report was commissioned by...
Hurricane Irma’s ‘Last Gasp’: 3-Year Claims Deadline Put to the Test
Sep 10 2020 // It’s been 3 years since Hurricane Irma made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm, and the trail of damage left in its wake is still being felt across the state today, particularly by the insurance industry as it...
Explained: How California’s Wildfires Could Spark a Financial Crisis
Sep 10 2020 // Wildfires across the U.S. West are among the sparks from climate change that could ignite a U.S. financial crisis by damaging home values, state tourism and local government budgets, an advisory panel to a U.S. markets...
Drones, Satellite Images Used to Assess Coastal Damage from Hurricane Laura
Sep 9 2020 // Hurricane Laura was hardly done ripping across Louisiana before scientists started combing through satellite imagery and drone footage and preparing to survey coastal areas to see what damage was caused by the monster...
Strong Winds Kick up Pacific Northwest Wildfires
Sep 9 2020 // Hurricane-force winds and high temperatures kicked up wildfires across parts of the Pacific Northwest over the Labor Day weekend, burning hundreds of thousands of acres and mostly destroying the small town of Malden in...
Record 2 Million Acres Burned in California Wildfires
Sep 9 2020 // Wildfires have burned a record 2 million acres in California this year, and the danger for more destruction is so high the U.S. Forest Service announced Monday it was closing all eight national forests in the southern half...
Social Inflation, Low Interest Rates, Rising Catastrophes: Recipe for a Hard Market
Sep 9 2020 // Even before the coronavirus crisis hit, the re/insurance industry was in a period of significant rate hardening, which will likely continue over the next two years, or even longer, according to Munich Re. Such price...
3.8M Earthquake Rattles Residents on Alabama-Florida State Line
Sep 8 2020 // No damage was reported after a weak earthquake occurred along the Alabama-Florida line Thursday morning. The U.S. Geological Survey reported that a magnitude 3.8 quake happened just after 10 a.m. north of Mount Carmel,...
The Rising Risk of Inland Flooding
Sep 7 2020 // Not Only in FEMA Zones, Not Only During Hurricane Season Major companies across the U.S. are increasingly recognizing the risk for inland flooding and with good reason. As recent hurricanes like Harvey and Florence made...
Texas Windstorm Insurer: No Rate Change for Now
Sep 7 2020 // The board of directors of Texas’ property insurer last resort for wind and hail in the state’s coastal counties voted in August to file a 0% rate change with the Texas Department of Insurance The Texas...
