Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
M4.2 Earthquake Shakes Central Alaska
Sep 14 2017 // A magnitude 4.2 earthquake has hit central Alaska, the Alaska Earthquake Center has confirmed. According to the center, the earthquake struck at 11:32 p.m. on Tuesday and its epicenter was 39 miles north of the town of...
Fitch Expects Most Insurers, Reinsurers to Handle Losses from Both Harvey, Irma
Sep 14 2017 // Fitch Ratings reported that based on its initial assessments, most U.S. insurance companies and global reinsurers that it rates are not expected to be downgraded as a result of the combined effects of Hurricanes Irma and...
Texas AG Sues 3 Businesses for Price Gouging During Hurricane Harvey
Sep 13 2017 // Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed lawsuits against three Texas businesses, accusing them of unlawful price gouging while consumers were in need of fuel, shelter and other essentials as a result of Hurricane...
Texas Mutual Creates $10M Fund for Policyholders Affected by Hurricane Harvey
Sep 13 2017 // Workers’ compensation insurance provider Texas Mutual Insurance Co. has established a grant of $10 million to policyholders affected by Hurricane Harvey. The grant program is intended to support the recovery of...
Willis Towers Watson: Hurricane Harvey Could Upend Commercial Insurance Prices
Sep 13 2017 // Hurricane Harvey could upend a trend of nearly flat commercial insurance prices that has continued since 2015, Willis Towers Watson said in its latest industry survey. “Insurers are bracing for a significant volume...
Cat Facility CCRIF to Pay 6 Caribbean Nations $29.6M for Hurricane Irma Damage
Sep 13 2017 // Cayman Islands-based CCRIF (formerly the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility) will make payments totaling US$29.6 million to six Caribbean nations recovering from Hurricane Irma. CCRIF’s parametric tropical...
Key Items to Remember After the Storm Passes Over
Sep 13 2017 // I wasn’t planning on writing about hurricane season again, but circumstances made it feel like the right thing to do. This hurricane season is already memorable, and it’s still got over two months to go. The...
Hurricane Irma May Push Island States to Seek Climate Change Aid
Sep 13 2017 // Devastation from Hurricane Irma in the Caribbean will sharpen the demands from small island nations that top fossil-fuel consumers help them cope with damage attributable to climate change, according to representatives of...
Irma Leaves Behind Death and Destruction in Cuba
Sep 12 2017 // The historic but often decrepit buildings of Havana and other colonial Cuban cities couldn’t stand up to Hurricane Irma’s winds and rainfall, collapsing and killing seven people in one of the highest death...
Death Toll from Mexico Earthquake Rises to 96
Sep 12 2017 // The death toll from Mexico’s 8.1 magnitude earthquake rose to 96 on Monday as more victims were confirmed in the hard-hit southern states of Oaxaca and Chiapas and residents worked to repair shattered homes and small...
Travelers Insurance Expects Hurricane Harvey Losses Between $375M-$750M
Sep 12 2017 // The Travelers Companies Inc. estimates that its catastrophe losses relating to Hurricane Harvey, including estimated recoveries from reinsurance, will be in the range of $375 million to $750 million pre-tax ($245 million...
Hurricane Irma Adds to Pressure on New Greenlight Re Chief
Sep 12 2017 // Hedge fund manager David Einhorn has endured a number of losing bets at his insurance venture. Now, the weather is becoming a threat for his Greenlight Capital Re Ltd. The company’s stock has slumped about 9 percent...
How ‘Bermuda High’ Threw Irma and Damage Estimates Off Course
Sep 12 2017 // Twenty miles may have made a $150 billion difference. Estimates for the damage Hurricane Irma would inflict on Florida kept mounting as it made its devastating sweep across the Caribbean. It was poised to be the costliest...
Florida ‘Dodged a Cannon’ as Irma Swerved and Weakened
Sep 11 2017 // Florida is drenched, tattered — but fortunate. Hurricane Irma weakened as it moved past Tampa on Monday, leaving in its wake a state that avoided the worst predictions of its destruction by sea and storm. By one...
Hurricane Harvey: Identifying the Insurance Gap
Sep 11 2017 // This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic. As hurricane Harvey made landfall north of Corpus Christi last week, this Category 4 hurricane left devastation in its wake. CoreLogic® estimates that the total...
Insurers Gain as Shifty, Weakened Irma May Not Be as Damaging as Feared
Sep 11 2017 // Insurers jumped in markets from Europe to Florida amid signs that predictions about Hurricane Irma’s damage were excessively dire. Giant reinsurers like Swiss Re and Munich Re, which shoulder risks for local insurers...
Is Maryland Ready for the Next Big Storm?
Sep 11 2017 // In Maryland, which historically has ducked many of the worst storms of the last 50 years, the question is increasingly not if, but when the next big one will strike. And while some believe the state has often been spared...
Insurers Rush to Find, Deploy Adjusters for Harvey, Irma Claims
Sep 11 2017 // Insurers are scrambling to find inspectors in Texas and Florida after fierce hurricanes battered the states one after the other, causing tens of billions of dollars’ worth of property damage in less than two...
Irma Analysis: Insurer Financial Stress Unlikely If Early Loss Estimates Hold
Sep 11 2017 // Before Hurricane Irma made landfall in south Florida on Sunday morning, analysts were assessing the potential damage to property/casualty insurer and reinsurance balance sheets and earnings. On Friday, Fitch Ratings noted...
Hurricane Costs Become Talk of Monte Carlo’s Reinsurance Rendez-Vous
Sep 10 2017 // As Hurricane Irma battered Florida on Sunday, the cream of the insurance world — gathered under the Mediterranean sun in Monte Carlo — was assessing the costs of the storm for the global industry. The takeaway...
