Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Portugal Battles Wildfire as Intense Heat Wave Continues Across Europe
Aug 7 2018 // Emergency services in Portugal continued their fight Monday against a major, four-day wildfire on the south coast that threatened to engulf a hillside town overnight. The Civil Protection Agency said 44 people required...
Powerful Earthquake Slams Indonesian Island of Lombok, Killing at Least 98
Aug 7 2018 // A powerful earthquake flattened houses and toppled bridges on the Indonesian tourist island of Lombok, killing at least 98 people and shaking neighboring Bali, as authorities said Monday that rescuers still hadn’t...
Catastrophe Bonds – A to Z
Aug 7 2018 // A reader of this publication, the president of an insurance agency, recently wrote to say he kept hearing about catastrophe bonds but had little knowledge of what they were. He was curious if these instruments would...
PCI: Majority of Texans Not Prepared for Hurricane Season
Aug 6 2018 // A large majority of Texas residents are not taking necessary steps to protect their property this hurricane season despite the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, according to a new poll conducted online by SurveyMonkey on...
Hawaii Officials Worry Earthquakes from Eruption Could Damage Roads
Aug 6 2018 // Officials on Hawaii’s Big Island, where the Kilauea volcano has been spewing huge amounts of lava for months, are bracing for the possibility that frequent earthquakes will cut off a major highway. Emergency...
California Governor Seeks Wildfire Aid from Trump as State Battles 17 Blazes
Aug 6 2018 // Gov. Jerry Brown over the weekend called on President Donald Trump to help California fight and recover from another devastating wildfire season. Brown, who inspected neighborhoods wiped out by a wildfire in the Northern...
Buildings Damaged Following Massachusetts Tornado Warning, High Winds
Aug 6 2018 // A tornado warning in Massachusetts has expired, and meteorologists from the National Weather Service are surveying building damage that may have been caused by a tornado. Extensive damage to buildings and trees are...
Hurricane Maria Likely Killed 1,139, Far More Than Government Tally: Penn State Study
Aug 6 2018 // Some 1,139 people are likely to have perished after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in September, far more than the official death count of 64, according to a Pennsylvania State University study published Thursday in the...
Casualty: The Next ILS Frontier?
Aug 6 2018 // Executive Summary: While progress has been made in the development of casualty insurance-linked securities (ILS), there still is significant work to do, says Aaron C. Koch of Milliman, who discusses some of the key...
Dust from Sahara Desert Moves West, Puts Brakes on Atlantic Hurricanes
Aug 6 2018 // Atlantic storm watchers are going to have a hard time seeing the ocean, never mind any tropical systems, as another Saharan swirl of dust from Africa is moving west. The dust, a marker for dry air, has spread out across...
Typhoon Shanshan Heads Toward Tokyo, as 13th Tropical Storm of Season
Aug 6 2018 // Typhoon Shanshan is set to approach the Tokyo area later this week, bringing heavy winds and strong rains to a region suffering from a sweltering heatwave. Shanshan, the 13th tropical storm of the season, is projected to...
Class-Action Status OK’d in Oklahoma Suit Over Earthquakes
Aug 6 2018 // Central Oklahoma residents won’t get a trial this fall for a case against an oil company accused of triggering earthquakes that damaged homes and buildings. A Cleveland County judge has outlined rules for the...
Texas Seeks Input on Changes to Catastrophe Data Call Standards
Aug 6 2018 // Texas insurance regulators have responded to insurer requests for revisions to its standards for catastrophe data calls and is seeking input on the proposed changes. The Texas Department of Insurance said following...
Frontline Insurance Secures First Cat Bond of $350M for Southeast Storms
Aug 6 2018 // Swiss Re Capital Markets has structured and placed the issuance of $350 million of insurance-linked securities by Frontline Re Ltd. on behalf of Frontline Insurance. The transaction is Frontline’s debut catastrophe...
One Year Ago: Reflections on the 2017 Hurricane Season
Aug 6 2018 // It’s hard to believe but August brings us to the one-year anniversary of the watery nightmare that was Hurricane Harvey and the beginning of the remarkable 2017 hurricane season that also featured Hurricane Irma...
Flood Model Changes Help Hiscox Re & ILS Enter U.S. Flood Market
Aug 6 2018 // Less than 12 percent of U.S. homeowners have a flood insurance policy, despite the fact that flooding is the country’s most common natural disaster, said Katy Sivyer, underwriter for North America and the Caribbean...
AIR Releases New Reinsurance Catastrophe Modeling Software, Touchstone Re
Aug 3 2018 // Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide announced that it has released Touchstone Re™, a new catastrophe modeling software application designed for estimating the loss potential of reinsurance contracts and...
At Least 3 Tornadoes Confirmed in Colorado
Aug 3 2018 // People on the plains of northeastern Colorado were cleaning up this week from a powerful storm that spawned at least three tornadoes, ripped off roofs and flipped trucks and small airplanes. No serious injuries were...
Atlantic Hurricane Season Had Early Start, but Fewer Storms Are Expected
Aug 3 2018 // The Atlantic hurricane season may have gotten off to an early start this year, but it’ll probably end with a whimper — at least when it comes to the total number of storms. Twelve named storms are likely to...
Carr Fire Losses May Reach $1.5B in Likely Another Destructive Season for California
Aug 2 2018 // California’s Carr wildfire has the potential to yield losses of up to $1.5 billion, according to a Moody’s report issued on Thursday. The fire has ravaged parts of Shasta County in or near Redding in the...
