Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Researchers: Houston’s Urbanization Partly to Blame for More Frequent and Intense Rain Events
Dec 3 2018 // Studies published earlier this year by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Hurricane Center showing a dramatic increase in the frequency of intense rain events in the Houston area in recent...
Will California See More Laws and Regulations in Wake of Wildfires?
Dec 3 2018 // Last year’s California wildfires destroyed thousands of homes and cost billions of dollars, but they also created numerous new laws and regulations in their wake as Legislators and insurance regulators looked for...
Imagery and Artificial Intelligence in Wildfire Risk
Dec 3 2018 // Fires across North America in 2018 have continued the pattern of extreme destruction established by significant insured loss events in both Northern and Southern California last year and the 2016 disasters in Alberta and...
Reducing Fire Risk Doesn’t Cost More
Dec 3 2018 // Properties built in wildfire-prone areas could be built to better withstand fire risk without increasing the cost of construction. That’s according to a new study released last month that found negligible cost...
Massive Earthquake Shakes Alaska, Hitting Roads And Bridges Hard
Dec 2 2018 // A powerful earthquake jolted southern Alaska on Friday morning, buckling roads, disrupting rush-hour traffic and jamming telephone service in and around Anchorage, the state’s largest city, but there were no reports...
California Seizes Small Insurer Merced P&C Due to Wildfire Claims
Dec 2 2018 // California regulators moved Friday to take over an insurance company that can’t pay out all claims following a massive wildfire that destroyed more than 13,000 homes. Merced Property & Casualty Company was pushed...
California OKs $16.3M Rate Reduction for Earthquake Policyholders
Nov 29 2018 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has approved a rate reduction for California Earthquake Authority residential earthquake policyholders that he says will bring millions of dollars in premium savings for 10s of...
2.9M Colorado Residents Now Living in Areas at Risk Of Wildfire
Nov 29 2018 // The number of Coloradans whose homes are at risk from wildfires soared 45 percent in five years, reflecting the state’s booming population and changing uses of agricultural land, state officials said. The Colorado...
Moody’s Says California Wildfire Losses Will Impact P/C Insurer, Reinsurer 4Q Earnings
Nov 29 2018 // Moody’s has released estimates showing property/casualty insurers and reinsurers total insured losses at $10 billion $15 billion from the California wildfires, which destroyed more than 20,000 residential and...
How Insurer Deployed Technology to Expedite Wildfire Claims
Nov 29 2018 // As wildfires raged this month in California, insurance claims experts at Travelers sat in a command center 3,000 miles (4,828 kilometers) away in Connecticut, monitoring screens showing satellite images, photos from...
Florida Principal Arrested in $16K Hurricane Irma Insurance Fraud Attempt
Nov 29 2018 // An elementary school principal in Jacksonville, Fla., has been arrested in an alleged attempt to commit more than $16,000 in insurance fraud related to Hurricane Irma, according to a statement from Florida CFO Jimmy...
Fitch Warns of Negative Credit Effects on Reinsurance from California Wildfires
Nov 28 2018 // The “downside credit risks” from the California wildfires are the most pronounced for investor-owned utilities, which could face large liabilities if IOU equipment is found to have ignited the fires. And...
PG&E Decided Not to Cut Power as Winds Raged Before California Wildfire
Nov 28 2018 // In the days before California’s deadliest wildfire erupted near a PG&E Corp. power line during a windstorm, the company kept a close eye on the weather, warned customers it might shut off electricity in the area,...
How Taxpayers Subsidize Rebuilding Homes After Flooding… Repeatedly
Nov 28 2018 // Floodwaters rose about 15 inches (40 centimeters) into Danielle Rees’ home in September when Hurricane Florence drenched this tidewater city on the Pamlico River and overwhelmed a local creek and marshland. The first...
Managing Natural Disasters Becomes Priority for Nation’s Governors
Nov 28 2018 // Governors have a wide range of priorities they want to tackle in the coming year, from tax reform to education. Yet it’s a topic that receives less attention on the campaign trail and in their speeches that could...
Florida CFO: Insurers Must Step Up Response to Hurricane Michael Claims
Nov 28 2018 // Citing a “troubling” number of Hurricane Michael-related consumer complaints and claims denials, Florida’s top financial regulator is urging insurers to respond more quickly and adequately to consumers...
2 Tornadoes Cause Damage in North Carolina
Nov 27 2018 // Two tornadoes have caused damage in coastal North Carolina. The National Weather Service said two tornadoes touched down Saturday afternoon. One tornado hit Emerald Isle and the other hit near Cape Carteret. There were no...
Report: Hurricane Harvey Was a Sign of Things to Come, Climate-Wise
Nov 27 2018 // Texas should brace for more — and worse — Hurricane Harveys, according to a major scientific report made public on Nov. 23 by the Trump administration. Based on the research of hundreds of government and academic...
Report Puts Losses from California Wildfires at $15B to $19B
Nov 27 2018 // Total losses from the wildfires in Northern and Southern California could reach from $15 billion to $19 billion, a report out on Tuesday shows. The report from industry data provider CoreLogic shows total losses from the...
Bill to Give PG&E Relief from California Wildfire Burden Nears, But Long-Term Fix Elusive
Nov 27 2018 // PG&E Corp., suspected of starting California’s deadliest wildfire, may soon get help from state lawmakers – just not the help it most wants. An assemblyman plans to introduce a bill in January that would give...
