Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California Commissioner Issues Report on Fire Insurance Availability Issues
Jan 4 2018 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones today released a report on the growing problem of homeowners fire insurance availability and affordability in many areas throughout the state. The report recommends changes in...
Natural Catastrophe Claims in 2017 Reached a Record $135B: Munich Re
Jan 4 2018 // The insurance industry will pay record claims of US$135 billion from last year’s spate of natural catastrophes, according to a report published by Munich Re. Further, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria (HIM), the...
Disasters Affected 8% of U.S. Population in 2017, FEMA Notes in Review of Historic Year
Jan 3 2018 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) supported 59 major disaster declarations and 16 emergency declarations in 2017, a year during which unprecedented disasters affected more than 25 million Americans, almost...
Top Insurance Journal South Central Stories of 2017
Dec 29 2017 // Among the most read news stories in Insurance Journal’s South Central region during 2017 concerned Hurricane Harvey and Texas hailstorm (aka natural catastrophe insurance claims) legislation. The insurance industry...
Top Insurance Journal West Stories of 2017
Dec 29 2017 // Trade secrets and Hippos, lawsuits and tragedies. The news for 2017 didn’t seem to be dominated by a single trend or sole event, but in an ever-fractured media world that must try and cater to short attention spans...
2017 ‘One of Worst’ for U.S. Weather with 15 Events Costing $1 Billion or More
Dec 29 2017 // In the year that President Donald Trump pulled out of the Paris accord and downplayed global warming as a security threat, the U.S. received a harsh reminder of the perils of the rise in the planet’s temperature: a...
Deploying Technology, Security Measures to Fight Weaponization of Autos
Dec 28 2017 // A deadly attack this month in Melbourne, Australia, in which a man plowed an SUV into a crowd of Christmas shoppers, comes from the same playbook used by terrorists in recent years around the globe. Many new vehicles...
Number of Strong Earthquakes in Oklahoma Continues to Decline
Dec 28 2017 // Regulators and scientists say the number of 3.0 magnitude or stronger earthquakes in Oklahoma is declining. The Oklahoma Geological Survey reports the number of quakes of at least that magnitude during 2017 was 294 through...
Wildfires Cost Montana $240M in Tourist Spending
Dec 27 2017 // A new report says summer fires cost the state of Montana $240 million in visitor spending. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported preliminary date released by the University of Montana’s Institute for Tourism and...
Typhoon Tembin Leaves Trail of Death, Destruction in Philippines
Dec 27 2017 // A powerful storm that left a trail of death and destruction in the Philippines was downgraded to a tropical depression Tuesday [Dec. 26] and failed to make landfall in Vietnam. Hundreds of thousands of people in...
Weather Service Reports Possible Tornado in Southern Mississippi
Dec 22 2017 // The National Weather Service says a possible tornado has touched down in southern Mississippi. Forecaster Robert Ricks says people saw a funnel cloud north of the Salem community in Walthall County. Ricks says radar...
California Commissioner Asks Insurers to Forego Detailed Home Inventories in Wake of Wildfires
Dec 21 2017 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones is asking insurers to help California wildfire survivors by providing relief from detailed home inventories and to provide up to 100 percent of contents coverage limits without...
Willis Towers Watson Places Cat Bond for France’s Covea Mutual
Dec 21 2017 // Willis Towers Watson Securities said it has structured and placed EUR 90 million of insurance-linked securities (ILS) for Covea Mutual Insurance Group, France’s largest domestic property/casualty insurance group. The...
St. Louis Cardinals’ Anti-Terrorism Safety Act Plan Approved
Dec 20 2017 // The St. Louis Cardinals have received federal certification giving the organization legal protections in the event of a terrorist attack at Busch Stadium. Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill announced that the U.S. Department...
Swiss Re Says Global Insured Catastrophe Losses Will Hit $136B in 2017
Dec 20 2017 // Swiss Re AG estimates that global insured losses from catastrophes in 2017 will hit $136 billion, the third-highest on record for the sector, with the United States hardest hit, it said on Wednesday. Total economic losses...
Catastrophe Bond Managers Put Hurricanes Behind Them, Plan New Launches
Dec 20 2017 // Hedge funds and other managers of catastrophe bond funds racked up some of the worst losses in more than a decade from this year’s hurricanes and wildfires. But a year that is shaping up to be the costliest on record...
House Republicans Eye Disaster Aid, Short-Term Funding Bill
Dec 19 2017 // House Republicans agreed Monday on $81 billion in disaster relief for areas hit by hurricanes and wildfires, the largest standalone aid bill in recent years, according to a document provided by a Republican lawmaker. The...
The Charity Issue: Photos of Giving
Dec 18 2017 // The Keane Insurance Group John Keane, president of The Keane Insurance Group, founded the Keane Charitable Group in 2010 after the earthquake in Haiti. Since then, The Keane Group has raised more than $1 million to build...
California Wildfire Claims Top $9.4B, Department of Insurance Says
Dec 18 2017 // California Commissioner Dave Jones announced in early December that the total of insured losses from the wildfires in California in October had topped $9.4 billion in residential and commercial claims. That figure is near...
Insurance Industry Week of Giving Set Records in Midst of Catastrophes
Dec 18 2017 // Hundreds of volunteers from the insurance industry descended on the National Veterans cemeteries in October in Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth to assist with maintenance and cleanup. Volunteers in Chicago from several...
