Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Tropical Storm Delta Expected to Threaten Gulf Coast as Major Hurricane This Week
Oct 6 2020 // 10/06/2020 09:09 AM— Hurricane Delta, the 25th named Atlantic storm this year, is moving toward the Gulf of Mexico and expected to take aim at the U.S. Gulf Coast this week as a major hurricane, the National Hurricane...
Energy Firm Evacuations Underway as Another Major Storm, Delta, Threatens Gulf Coast
Oct 5 2020 // Energy companies on Monday began evacuating offshore oil platforms as the 25th named storm of the year formed in the Caribbean and was forecast to become a major hurricane before it entered the Gulf of Mexico and threatens...
Hyperactive Hurricane Season Highlights Need for Flood Insurance
Oct 5 2020 // Tropical Storm Beta made landfall on the central Texas coast on Sept. 21 as the 23rd named storm of the hyperactive 2020 Atlantic hurricane season and the third to hit the Gulf Coast this year. Slow moving Beta dumped...
California Commissioner Asks Insurers to Cover Wildfire Losses Sans Home Inventory
Oct 2 2020 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara is asking insurance companies help wildfire survivors by providing up to 100% of personal property coverage limits without a detailed inventory to those who suffered a total...
Report: Nearly 2M Homes at Elevated Risk of Wildfire
Sep 30 2020 // Nearly 2 million homes, mostly in the Western U.S., with a rebuilding value of more than $638 billion are at an elevated risk of wildfire damage, a report out today shows. An annual wildfire report from data provider...
The Big Question Is Can U.S. Restrain Worsening Wildfires?
Sep 29 2020 // This is one of a series of interviews by Bloomberg Opinion columnists on how to solve pressing policy challenges. This conversation has been edited and condensed. Romesh Ratnesar: The American West is suffering through a...
Guy Carpenter Taps Miller from Aon to Lead Property Catastrophe UK, Global Specialties
Sep 29 2020 // Guy Carpenter & Co., the reinsurance brokerage business of Marsh & McLennan Cos., announced the appointment of Paul Miller to lead Guy Carpenter’s Property Catastrophe value proposition for UK, Global...
MGA New Paradigm Aims to Bridge the Natural Catastrophe Protection Gap
Sep 29 2020 // Evan Glassman saw a gap in the property insurance market—literally. Glassman, working as a retail producer in south Florida for most of his career, realized that the insurance industry’s products were not fully...
Close Call with Laura Renewed Debate over Houston Storm Surge Barrier
Sep 29 2020 // Houston, a Gulf Coast city that barely rises above sea level, has long worried about a worst-case weather scenario — a direct hit from a powerful storm that sends a wall of water barreling into the region’s...
Oregon Insurance Division Issues Amended Wildfire Emergency Order
Sep 28 2020 // The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services’ Division of Financial Regulation has issued an amended wildfire emergency order. The amended order means that insurance companies must immediately take steps...
Wildfire Forces Home, Hospital Evacuations in California’s Napa Valley Wine Area
Sep 28 2020 // A wind-driven wildfire erupted on Sunday in the heart of northern California’s Napa Valley wine country to spread across nearly 2,000 acres (809 hectares), forcing the evacuation of a hospital and hundreds of homes,...
Louisiana Utility: Hurricane Laura Repair Costs Now at $1.4B
Sep 28 2020 // A Louisiana utility says the cost to restore electricity and repair power lines damaged in the state during Hurricane Laura is now up to $1.4 billion. Entergy Corp., the New Orleans-based utility serving many of the areas...
Western Wildfires Taint Vineyards With Taste Of Smoke
Sep 25 2020 // Smoke from the West Coast wildfires has tainted grapes in some of the nation’s most celebrated wine regions with an ashy flavor that could spell disaster for the 2020 vintage. Wineries in California, Oregon and...
Texas Windstorm Insurer Seeks More Data on Rate Adequacy, Hurricane Modeling
Sep 24 2020 // The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association’s actuarial and underwriting committee is seeking more data from TWIA staff and an actuarial consulting firm on rate adequacy and catastrophe modeling for potential hurricane...
As Wildfires Spread, Public Safety Tech Startups Lack Venture Capitalists’ Backing
Sep 24 2020 // Silicon Valley’s innovation engine has been slow to produce useful new tools to help firefighters like Dave Winnacker extinguish the deadly blazes that each year fill California’s skies with smoke. Winnacker, a...
Oregon Issues Insurance Emergency Order for Wildfire Victims
Sep 23 2020 // The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services’ Division of Financial Regulation has issued an insurance emergency order for people affected by the state’s wildfires. Insurance companies must...
Few Resources, Old-Growth Forest Allowed Growth of California Wildfire
Sep 23 2020 // A lack of firefighting resources in the hours after it was sparked allowed a fast-moving wildfire to make an unprecedented run through Southern California mountains and eventually find fuel in old-growth trees to become...
Insurer Impact from Sally Expected to be Moderate; Losses Estimated at $1B to $3B
Sep 23 2020 // Insured losses from Hurricane Sally could reach as much as $3 billion, according to catastrophe modelers, but ratings agency Moody’s expects a moderate impact on property & casualty insurers and...
Catastrophe Losses Driven Higher by Secondary Perils – And Climate Change
Sep 23 2020 // Secondary perils, exacerbated by climate change, are driving catastrophe insurance losses, warn a growing chorus of reinsurers and brokers. Indeed, broker Aon reveals that more than 60% of 2020’s insured catastrophe...
Rainy Beta Lands on Texas Coast as Tropical Storm
Sep 22 2020 // Slow-moving Tropical Storm Beta made landfall on the Texas coast on Sept. 21 at around 10 pm near the Matagorda Peninsula, packing heavy rains and sustained winds of around 45 mph. Beta is the ninth named storm to hit the...
