Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
False Alarms Shake Confidence in Public Alert System
Feb 13 2018 // Weather junkie John Grosso knew it was highly unlikely a monster wave was barreling toward the Connecticut coast. Still, when a tsunami warning appeared out of the blue on his phone Tuesday, he felt a twinge of fear. His...
Judge Voids Verdict on Arab Bank Liability for Terrorism; Triggers Settlements
Feb 12 2018 // A U.S. appeals court has thrown out a 2014 jury verdict finding Arab Bank Plc liable for knowingly supporting militant attacks in Israel linked to Hamas, a decision that triggers a settlement agreement with hundreds of...
Fracking Earthquakes Pop Up in Unexpected Corner of Oklahoma’s Shale Patch
Feb 9 2018 // The oil prospectors of Oklahoma, it appeared, finally had a solution to their earthquake problem. Ordered by regulators to curb the wastewater they were dumping deep into the ground, they watched with satisfaction as...
AIG’s Doubling of Q4 Loss Pinned on Wildfires, Tax Act
Feb 9 2018 // American International Group reported a net loss of $6.7 billion for the fourth quarter of 2017, compared to a net loss of $3.0 billion in the prior-year quarter. The fourth quarter of 2017 net loss included a charge of...
January Windstorms to Cost Europe’s Insurers More Than $2B: Aon
Feb 9 2018 // European windstorms Friederike, Eleanor and Carmen wreaked widespread damage in January, causing insured losses of more than $2 billion, according to a report published by Impact Forecasting, Aon Benfield’s...
Managing the CEA’s growth would be easier with this one small fix
Feb 8 2018 // The California Earthquake Authority, the state’s privately funded and publicly managed earthquake “instrumentality,” is growing like mad. A spate of recent natural disasters—in combination with savvy...
U.S. Weather Service Test Became False Tsunami Warning on East Coast
Feb 8 2018 // A tsunami warning was erroneously sent Tuesday to some mobile phones along the East Coast and other coastal locations, less than a month after a false notification of a missile attack in Hawaii was sent by that...
Investments, Tax Cuts Boosted Allstate Profit in Q4
Feb 8 2018 // The Allstate Corp., like many carriers, faced an enormous hit from natural catastrophe losses in the 2017 fourth quarter. Investment returns soared by double digits, however, and the Trump tax cuts gave it a one-time gain,...
CoreLogic Identifies Flood and Wildfire as the Two Most Destructive Natural Hazards in 2017
Feb 7 2018 // This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic. Annual Natural Hazard Risk Summary and Analysis Details 2017 Natural Hazard Events CoreLogic® analyzes and evaluates the number and severity of natural hazard events...
How Disasters Expose Challenges and Opportunities for Insurance
Feb 7 2018 // Although clear challenges can come with the increasing cost and frequency of global natural disasters, there could also be untapped opportunity for insurers to tackle coverage gaps, according to panelists at the Insurance...
Aon Securities Structures Largest-Ever Earthquake Catastrophe Bond for World Bank
Feb 7 2018 // Aon Securities, the investment banking division of reinsurance intermediary and capital adviser Aon Benfield, has assisted the World Bank in structuring the largest-ever catastrophe bond covering earthquake, which provides...
Thousands of Acres Scorched by Northeastern Oklahoma Wildfires
Feb 5 2018 // Firefighters say wildfires have scorched thousands of acres of dry grasslands in northeastern Oklahoma. Dozens of firefighters fought a grassfire along Oklahoma Highway 20 in Osage County Saturday evening that officials...
American Families Sue Chiquita Over Terrorist Group Killings in Colombia
Feb 5 2018 // The families of six Americans kidnapped and killed in Colombia during the 1990s by the terrorist organization known as FARC are seeking potentially tens of millions of dollars in damages from banana giant Chiquita Brands...
Mississippi to Offer Free Vehicle Inspections of Hurricane-Damaged Vehicles
Feb 5 2018 // The Mississippi Insurance Department (MID) and the Mississippi Collision Repair Association have partnered to protect residents from buying cars damaged by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Officials say thousands of...
CoreLogic: Harvey an Exception to a Relatively ‘Normal’ Hazard Activity Year
Feb 5 2018 // While natural weather hazard activity could be largely categorized as “normal” last year, regional exceptions occurred, notably: wildfires in California and hurricane activity in Texas and the...
Winter Wildfires Scorch Oklahoma
Feb 5 2018 // Firefighters say wildfires have scorched hundreds of acres in western Oklahoma, damaging fences and equipment but causing no injuries. Capt. Forrest Valentine of the Clinton Fire Department said firefighters battled two...
Texas AG Sues Tree Company Over Deadly, Damaging 2011 Wildfire
Feb 5 2018 // Texas is suing a vegetation management company that it alleges caused the 2011 Bastrop County Complex Fire, the most destructive wildfire in Texas history. The lawsuit filed on Jan. 19 by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton...
Report Calls out California Wildfires Among 2017 U.S. Hazards
Feb 5 2018 // CoreLogic’s annual Natural Hazard Risk Summary and Analysis released in late January shows that 2017 was a year of relatively average activity for most U.S. natural hazards with the exception of wildfires in...
Study Finds Oklahoma’s Earthquakes Strongly Linked to Wastewater Injection Depth
Feb 2 2018 // A huge increase in the number of man-made earthquakes in Oklahoma, is strongly linked to the depth at which wastewater from the oil and gas industry is injected into the ground, according to a new study involving the...
Risk Management for Super Bowl Requires Team Effort
Feb 2 2018 // Assessing and managing risk for an event like the Super Bowl is more than a matter of just looking around the venue for possible slip and fall hazards and hiring a few security guards to ensure no one enters the stadium...
