Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
North Carolina Legislature Finalizes $300M Hurricane Relief Spending
Dec 4 2018 // Nearly $300 million in additional state spending to address North Carolina’s recovery from Hurricane Florence received quick and unanimous approval from the state legislature and the governor. The House voted...
Schools Open 3 Weeks After Northern California Wildfire
Dec 4 2018 // Monday marked a return to school and some semblance of routine for thousands of children who lost their homes to a deadly wildfire in Northern California. Schools in Butte County have been closed since Nov. 8, when the...
3 Oil Companies Settle in Class-Action Suit over Oklahoma Earthquakes
Dec 4 2018 // Three oil companies have reached a settlement with plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit over damaging earthquakes in central Oklahoma. The companies — Spess Oil Co., Equal Energy US Inc. and Fairfield Oil and Gas Corp....
Morgan Stanley: State Farm, Allstate Largest Insurers Exposed to Alaska Quake
Dec 3 2018 // State Farm, Allstate and USAA have the lion’s share of exposure from the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck Alaska on Nov. 30, according to a Morgan Stanley Research brief put out on Monday. The epicenter was...
Multiple Tornadoes Hit the Midwest; One Killed in Missouri
Dec 3 2018 // The National Weather Service says multiple tornadoes touched down in central Illinois, damaging dozens of structures, downing power lines and injuring at least 20 people. Meteorologist Chris Geelhart says the twisters...
Alabama Condo Complex Earns IBHS’ First-Ever Hurricane Gold Designation
Dec 3 2018 // Local developers in coastal Alabama that utilized Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety’s (IBHS) FORTIFIED Commercial construction standards in the design of a coastal condominium complex have earned the...
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...
