Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Tropical Storm Gordon to Become Hurricane, Strike Gulf Coast Tuesday; Flood Damage Expected
Sep 3 2018 // Tropical Storm Gordon will grow into a hurricane as it grazes offshore natural gas and oil fields, where it has already sparked evacuations, before coming ashore over the lower Mississippi Valley later on Tuesday or early...
A Tale of Two Floridas: Hurricane Irma’s Belated Impact on Reinsurers
Sep 3 2018 // Reinsurers expressed different views of loss developments related to Hurricane Irma, when executives reviewed the impact of the Florida event on second-quarter earnings reports last month. Everest Re was among those...
6 Small Businesses Share Disaster Recovery Stories
Aug 31 2018 // As small business owners in Hawaii and California clean up following Hurricane Lane and wildfires, they’ll find there’s no one formula for recovery. The same disaster can devastate businesses in divergent ways...
ILS Issuance in H1 Tops $7B, Reflecting Capital Markets’ Re/Insurance Appetite: Swiss Re
Aug 31 2018 // The first half of 2018 aptly demonstrated that the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market has an undiminished appetite to provide re/insurance protection – despite last year’s expensive insured natural...
Calm August No Guarantee of Hurricane-Free September
Aug 31 2018 // Where are all the big Atlantic storms? A year ago, Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas, kicking off a parade of destructive storms that made 2017 the costliest Atlantic season ever. So far in 2018, the region has been...
Houston Eyeing Designer Bonds to Pay for $15B Ike Dike
Aug 30 2018 // A massive dike to hold back storm-driven floods surging in from the Gulf of Mexico was first proposed after Hurricane Ike devastated the Houston-area coast a decade ago. Last year’s Hurricane Harvey disaster brought...
Virginia Reminds Homeowners to Review Property Coverage Before a Hurricane
Aug 30 2018 // Although hurricane activity in the Atlantic has been relatively quiet so far for 2018 with only five named storms to date, the Virginia State Corporation Commission’s (SCC) Bureau of Insurance is reminding Virginians...
Judge Says FEMA Can End Motel Payments for Hurricane Maria Evacuees
Aug 30 2018 // A federal judge on Thursday rejected a request to block the U.S. government from cutting off aid to hundreds of Puerto Rican families who fled the hurricane-ravaged island in 2017 and are living in hotels and motels across...
California Legislature Passes Bill Aimed Collecting Data and Helping Wildfire Victims
Aug 29 2018 // The California Legislature has passed Senate Bill 824, a bill aimed at provided information to the California Department of Insurance related to fire risk information on the residential property policies issued by...
A.M. Best: Insurers Equipped to Handle Hurricane Lane Losses
Aug 29 2018 // A.M. Best is expecting Hurricane Lane to be considered more of a flood event than a wind event. As a result, the storm that buffeted Hawaii should bring a potential triggering of the National Flood Insurance...
Last Year’s Wine Country Fires in California Leave Homeowners Struggling
Aug 29 2018 // Construction crews have already put up the frame on Cheri Sharp’s new house, but she still questions whether rebuilding was the right choice after California’s most destructive wildfire took her old home in...
Small Earthquake Shakes North Alabama
Aug 29 2018 // No damage is being reported after a minor earthquake rattled northern Alabama. The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude 2.1 earthquake happened around 7:22 a.m. Monday about 15 miles north of Huntsville near the...
Wildfire Insurance Bill Signed by California Governor
Aug 28 2018 // California Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday signed into law a bill that is intended to combat what are believed underinsurance issues revealed by 2017 wildfires. AB 1797 by Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-Marin County, is expected to...
Radar Coverage in North Dakota to Be Improved After Deadly Tornado
Aug 28 2018 // The National Weather Service is taking steps to improve weather radar coverage for western North Dakota after a deadly tornado in the area raised awareness of gaps in coverage. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric...
Report Shows California Wildfires, Climate Change Altering Insurance Landscape
Aug 27 2018 // Insurers may be non-renewing more in wildfire-prone areas of California, sending an increasing number of people to the residual market or to surplus lines insurers. A report released on Monday shows that market shares of...
Storm Passes Through Hawaii After Massive Rains
Aug 27 2018 // A once-powerful hurricane twisted and drifted away from Hawaii, leaving behind heavily saturated ground on the Big Island and many residents on other islands relieved it didn’t wreak more havoc. Firefighters on the...
Germany Wildfire Southwest of Berlin Detonates Buried WWII Ammunition
Aug 27 2018 // Firefighters struggled Friday to tame a wildfire southwest of Berlin but had to maneuver carefully as the blaze set off old World War II ammunition that is still buried in the forests around the German capital. Flames...
M6.3 Earthquake Confirmed on Remote Alaskan Island
Aug 24 2018 // A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Wednesday night in Alaska, the Alaska Earthquake Center confirmed. The center reported the quake occurred in the remote Andreanof Islands region of Alaska, but was felt almost 70 miles...
Rains from Hurricane Pummel Hawaii, Causing Floods and Landslides
Aug 24 2018 // Hurricane Lane has brought record rainfall to Hawaii, where flooding threatens $8 billion of homes and few can remember such torrential downpours. In 12 hours, 16.48 inches of rain fell on the Big Island of Hawaii and...
As Hurricane Lane Neared Hawaii FEMA Promises to Do Better
Aug 24 2018 // As a Category 4 hurricane roared toward Hawaii, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it’s learned the lessons of last year’s devastation of Puerto Rico and is vowing a better response. Calling 2017...
