Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California Earthquake Authority Policy Sales up 5.4% in 2Q from Year Ago
Jul 31 2017 // Californians may be getting the idea that they live in earthquake country. That’s the underlying message that can be found in the latest figures out from the California Earthquake Authority. The CEA, a...
Air Guard Tankers Being Activated to Combat Western Wildfires
Jul 31 2017 // Air National Guard C-130s from Wyoming, Nevada and Colorado that are equipped to battle fires have been activated to fight wildfires in the Western U.S. The three large aircraft will be stationed in Fresno,...
French Firefighters Begin to Contain Wildfires
Jul 28 2017 // French authorities are close to containing one of the fiercest blazes to break out during four days of wildfires in the country’s southeast that have led to the evacuation of more than 12,000 people. The fires in...
Raging Wildfires on French Riviera Force Evacuation of 12,000 People
Jul 27 2017 // French authorities ordered the evacuation of up to 12,000 people around a picturesque hilltop town in the southern Cote d’Azur region as fires hopscotched around the Mediterranean coast for a third day Wednesday. A...
Minor Damage Reported in North Carolina From Waterspout Turned Tornado
Jul 25 2017 // A waterspout briefly came ashore as a tornado in North Carolina last week, causing minor damage to houses before dissipating. The StarNews of Wilmington reports the National Weather Service confirmed the waterspout made...
Colorado Wildfire Evacuation Order Lifted in Foothills
Jul 24 2017 // Authorities have lifted evacuations prompted by a wildfire burning near a heavily populated area in Colorado. The fire burned almost half a square mile of brush-covered foothills south of Fort Collins, triggering an...
AIR Worldwide Launches Severe Thunderstorm Model for Australia
Jul 24 2017 // Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide announced it has released a severe thunderstorm model for Australia, which captures all three sub-perils – hail, tornado and straight-line wind – to help companies assess...
Report: The Southeast’s Storm Surge Risk and Florida’s Hurricane Wake-Up Call
Jul 24 2017 // The Southeast has seen its fair share of natural disasters and flooding in the last several years, including two hurricanes in Florida last year – the first hurricanes to hit the state in more than a decade. But none...
2016 Texas Hail Losses Top $5B
Jul 24 2017 // Wind and hail loss information for 2016 released recently by the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) show that homeowner losses from hail in Texas were the highest annual losses ever recorded, as they exceeded $5 billion,...
Exclusive: California Broker Plans Parametric Quake Product That Pays Even If No Damage
Jul 21 2017 // A California broker is promising to bring a “first-of-its-kind financial resource” that pays homeowners after an earthquake for a low monthly premium whether there’s damage to the home or not. A Berkeley,...
Authority Wants 1952 Quake Anniversary to Remind Californians to Prepare
Jul 21 2017 // Friday marks the 65th anniversary of the 1952 magnitude 7.5 earthquake that struck Kern County, Calif., considered the largest quake to strike Southern California since the 1870s. While the epicenter was on the White Wolf...
50 Homes Destroyed in California Wildfire
Jul 21 2017 // The town of Mariposa, with its century-old saloons and covered sidewalks, normally bustles with summer visitors on their way to Yosemite National Park but the Gold Rush-era hamlet was mostly empty as ash rained down and...
British Columbia Wildfires Continue to Rage, Torching 1,235-Plus Square Miles
Jul 21 2017 // British Columbia is extending a state of emergency for two more weeks as wildfires sweeping across the province’s interior show no sign of slowing. Premier John Horgan said Wednesday that his government’s first...
Verisk: Texas 2nd in Number of Households at Risk for Wildfire
Jul 20 2017 // The 2017 Verisk Wildfire Risk Analysis shows that Texas is ranked second behind California for the number of households at high or extreme risk from wildfire. The analysis determined the number and percentage of households...
Yosemite Park Wildfire Burns Dozens of Structures And Heads Toward California Towns
Jul 20 2017 // A wildfire in foothills west of Yosemite National Park destroyed dozens of structures and forced thousands to flee towns but fire crews have been able to stop it from reaching a threatened community on the foothills of the...
Travelers Says It’s ‘Where It Needs to Be’ to Compete; Q2 Results Dampened by Weather
Jul 20 2017 // Small business insurance leader Travelers Companies is well-positioned to continue to compete in the small commercial insurance space that is attracting new entries including technology-driven start-ups, according to CEO...
Catastrophes Cost Insurers $22B in 1H 2017; Economic Losses Totaled $53B: Aon
Jul 20 2017 // Global insured losses from natural disasters during the first half of 2017 are estimated at US$22 billion with 76 percent of these losses generated by U.S. events, according to a report issued by Impact Forecasting, Aon...
North Carolina Gov Signs $100M Hurricane Aid, Zip Line Insurance Bills
Jul 20 2017 // Gov. Roy Cooper has signed legislation directing how $100 million in additional Hurricane Matthew relief funds must be spent and requiring zip line and aerial ropes course owners to get minimum levels of liability...
California Wildfire Threatens 1,500 Homes
Jul 19 2017 // A California blaze in the rugged mountains outside of Yosemite National Park has destroyed eight structures and forced thousands of nearby residents to flee their homes. As of Tuesday evening, the fire had scorched 39...
British Columbia Wildfires Expected to Worsen; Nearly 40,000 People Evacuated
Jul 19 2017 // Fast-moving wildfires in British Columbia have forced nearly 40,000 people to leave their homes and residents are flooding into crowded evacuation centers amid a provincial state of emergency. Federal Public Safety...
