Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Increased Seismic Activity in Hawaii Not Considered A Danger
May 15 2020 // An increase in seismic activity around the youngest Hawaii volcano poses no immediate danger to the Big Island, geologists said. The U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said more than 100 earthquakes were...
Typhoon Vongfong Tests Philippines’ Ability to Protect Evacuees from Coronavirus
May 15 2020 // Typhoon Vongfong forced more than 150,000 people in the Philippines to leave their homes, risking coronavirus infection as they move to usually packed shelters. Intense rains and strong winds damaged houses and crops as...
Typhoon Vongfong Hits the Philippines with Evacuations Expected
May 14 2020 // Typhoon Vongfong, the Northern Hemisphere’s first named storm [of 2020], is rapidly intensifying east of the Philippines, where it could clip parts of the island nation Thursday and Saturday, according to the U.S....
Lloyd’s Expects US$4.3B in COVID-19 Claims – On Par with Costs of 9/11 Terror Attacks
May 14 2020 // Lloyd’s of London revealed it will pay claims in the range of $3 billion to $4.3 billion as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This payout is on a par with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which cost the Lloyd’s...
Mississippi Approved for Additional Federal Disaster Aid for Easter Tornadoes
May 13 2020 // The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency says more counties have been approved for federal disaster assistance following damage by April storms. MEMA announced Saturday that individuals in six more counties –...
M4.5 Earthquake Confirmed in Southern California Desert
May 12 2020 // A moderate earthquake shook a remote desert area east of San Diego Sunday, but there were no immediate reports of damages or injuries, the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed. The magnitude 4.5 quake struck at 3:07 p.m. and...
Firefighters Battle Raging Florida Wildfire as Many Florida Residents Return Home
May 11 2020 // For two sleepless nights, Kelly Kniss had wondered what had become of her home in the Florida Panhandle and the two dozen hens she and her husband Ryan had left behind after authorities ordered them to grab what they could...
New Mexico Forest Official Cites Rising Risk of Human-Caused Wildfires
May 11 2020 // The top administrator of a national forest in northern New Mexico says there’s an elevated risk of human-caused wildfires due to drying conditions and negligence by some forest visitors. Carson National Forest...
Wildfires Rage in Florida Panhandle; More Than 1K People Evacuated
May 8 2020 // Firefighters in the Florida Panhandle have been battling wildfires that forced some 1,600 people to evacuate from their homes, and a stretch of Interstate 10 remained closed in both directions Thursday morning due to...
April’s Killer Tornadoes Cost Insurers Billions in Claims: Aon Report
May 8 2020 // Extensive severe weather events in the United States during April cost insurers billions of dollars, according to the latest edition of Aon’s Global Catastrophe Recap report. There were 14 killer tornadoes in the...
Complex Financial Products Aren’t the Solution to Climate Change or Pandemic: Opinion
May 8 2020 // Almost exactly four years ago the World Bank announced a pioneering project, the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility, designed to develop a new insurance market and protect the world’s poorest countries against...
Federal Aid Denied to Georgia County for Damage from April Tornado
May 8 2020 // A county in Georgia will not receive any federal relief funds after a tornado that swept through the South in April destroyed dozens of homes in the area, authorities said. Murray County Commissioner Greg Hogan told news...
Florida Makes Plans for Dealing with Pandemic During Hurricane Season
May 7 2020 // As Florida slowly reopens, officials are now contemplating what they should do if the coronavirus outbreak lingers into hurricane season, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday. Hurricane season begins June 1 and...
How to Manage Two Disasters at Same Time
May 7 2020 // On March 5, Tennessee governor Bill Lee announced the state’s first confirmed case of Covid-19. Three weeks later on Easter Sunday, tornadoes touched down outside of Chattanooga, killing four people and flattening...
Willis Paints COVID-19 Insurance Loss Big Picture: It’s a Wash or Historic Catastrophe
May 7 2020 // If the novel COVID-19 pandemic is brought under control soon, the disease’s impact on the insurance industry as a whole may be pretty much a wash. It not, the industry may be on the verge of an historic...
FERMA Forms Task Force to Find Solution for Non-Damage BI Cover – Such as Pandemic
May 7 2020 // The Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA) announced the launch of a task force to create proposals to address the issue of business interruption coverage for catastrophic risks. “Our aim is to...
Wildfire Danger High in Central Wisconsin
May 5 2020 // The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the National Weather Service issued a red flag warning on May 3 for 12 counties in central Wisconsin as the danger of wildfires remained high. A red flag warning is issued...
RMS Releases High Definition Models for European Severe Convective Storm
May 5 2020 // RMS, the Newark, Calif.-based risk modeling and analytics firm, announced the release of new European Severe Convective Storm (EU SCS) High Definition Models. The models represent 50,000 years of simulation of hail and...
PG&E Purging Most of Board in Fallout From Bankruptcy, California Wildfires
May 4 2020 // PG&E Corp. will sweep out three quarters of its board of directors to start with a mostly clean slate when it emerges from a bankruptcy case triggered by deadly wildfires ignited in Northern California by the...
Tennessee Insurance Claims from Deadly March Tornadoes Top $1B
May 4 2020 // More than 15,600 insurance claims seeking more than $1.1 billion have been filed in Tennessee over deadly tornadoes that tore through the state early last month, state officials said last month. Tennessee Department of...
