Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California Wildfire Threatening More Than 1,000 Homes
Sep 22 2020 // A wildfire burning through brush and timber from the mountains to the desert northeast of Los Angeles threatened more than 1,000 homes on Tuesday as crews across the West battled dozens of other major blazes. The Bobcat...
California Burnin’ – a Warning Against One-Party Rule: Opinion
Sep 22 2020 // “California, folks, is America fast forward.” Thus said Governor Gavin Newsom, hoarsely, amid brown smoke at the North Complex Fire on Sept. 11. “What we’re experiencing right here is coming to a...
Frequent Wildfires Decimating Forests Becomes Concern Worldwide
Sep 22 2020 // Wildfires among ponderosa pines and Douglas firs of the U.S. West have long been part of nature’s cycle of renewal, as much as the changing of the seasons. But as climate change makes the region more arid, wildfires...
Judge Allows Great Smoky Mountains Wildfire Lawsuits to Move Forward
Sep 21 2020 // U.S. park officials have failed to show enough was done to keep the public updated as a deadly wildfire spread from Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2016, a judge ruled. The decision earlier this month by U.S....
Hurricane Sally Adds to Mounting Losses in Historic Gulf Coast Storm Season
Sep 21 2020 // Hundreds of thousands of people were without power Friday along the Alabama coast and the Florida Panhandle in the aftermath of Hurricane Sally as officials assessed millions of dollars in damage that included a broken...
Well Repairs Off Texas Coast Halted Due to Tropical Storm Beta
Sep 21 2020 // Repairs to a leaking gas well just off the Texas coast have been halted because of Tropical Storm Beta, according to the city of Corpus Christi. “Due to deteriorating weather conditions, offshore repairs are...
Slow-Moving Storm Beta Set to Drench Texas, Louisiana Coasts
Sep 21 2020 // Beta, a slow-moving tropical storm, will bring flooding rains to Texas and Louisiana as well as raking offshore energy fields with high winds, but may not reach hurricane strength. Beta’s winds will likely hold at 50...
Utah’s Wildfire Costs Soar with Human-Caused Blazes
Sep 21 2020 // Utah’s wildfire season has broken records for the number of human-caused fires and the costs to taxpayers. During a presentation of the Utah State Legislature’s powerful Executive Appropriations Committee, the...
Declarations
Sep 21 2020 // Common Digital Theme “I do think the industry has learned from the pandemic and if there is one common theme, it is the power and value of digital capabilities.” — Maryland Insurance Commissioner Kathleen...
Social Inflation, Low Interest Rates, Rising Catastrophes: Recipe for a Hard Market
Sep 21 2020 // Even before the coronavirus crisis hit, the reinsurance 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...
Fire Weather May Improve for Pacific Northwest, No Such Luck for Tinderbox California
Sep 18 2020 // Rains may bring some reprieve to those suffering from massive blazes in the Pacific Northwest in the next few weeks, but forecasters don’t expect any help for wildfire-plagued California anytime soon. That’s...
NFIP’s Flood Losses Expected to Be ‘Significant’ from Hurricane Sally: AM Best
Sep 18 2020 // Hurricane Sally is not expected to cause a major insurance loss – compared to events such as the ongoing wildfires in California, Oregon, and Washington, or Hurricane Laura, according to AM Best. As the storm was more of...
Using Building Codes and Property Characteristics to Keep up With 2020 Hurricane Season
Sep 18 2020 // This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic. Though the COVID-19 pandemic is occupying most of our attention at the moment, hurricane season has begun and natural catastrophes never take a holiday. Forecasts for...
After Hurricane Sally, Assessment of Extensive Flood Damage Begins
Sep 18 2020 // GULF SHORES, Ala./HOUSTON – As an Alabama resident, Toby Wallace has seen his fair share of hurricane damage working for the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, where he handles flood insurance claims. But that did...
Florida’s Citizens Urges Insureds to Avoid Fraud, Scams After Hurricane Sally
Sep 18 2020 // In an effort to help insureds avoid falling victim to scams and abuse, as well as to speed up the claims process, Citizens Property Insurance Corp. is urging its policyholders to “Call Citizens First” as they...
Update: Rains from Remnants of Hurricane Sally Wreak Havoc on Southeast States
Sep 17 2020 // GULF SHORES, Ala., Sept 17 – 06:00 PM – The remnants of Hurricane Sally dumped more than a foot of rain over the U.S. Southeast on Thursday, killed at least one person, washed out bridges and roads and left...
August Windstorm Removed 550K Acres of Iowa Corn from Harvest
Sep 17 2020 // The U.S. Department of Agriculture has estimated that 550,000 acres of Iowa corn will not be harvested this fall due to damage caused by the Aug. 10 windstorm that swept across the state. That estimate in a report released...
Moody’s Says Property/Casualty Insurers Face Significant Losses from Western Wildfires
Sep 17 2020 // Dozens of wildfires raging in California, Oregon, Washington and other Western states have resulted in loss of life, damaged or destroyed about 9,657 homes and commercial structures and burned more than 5 million acres,...
Slowness, Not Speed, of Hurricanes Like Sally Becoming Major Concern
Sep 17 2020 // For Grant Saltz, who runs a barbecue restaurant in Mobile, Alabama, what struck him about Hurricane Sally was its steady, deliberate pace, after the storm rumbled into the U.S. Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a powerful...
Oil Industry Begins Cleaning Up, Restarting Gulf Operations After Hurricane Sally
Sep 17 2020 // Storm-tossed U.S. offshore energy producers and exporters began clearing debris on Thursday from Hurricane Sally and booting up idle Gulf of Mexico operations after hunkering down for five days. The storm toppled trees,...
