Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Mexico Calculates Economic Cost of Quake; Insurance Covers Small Part of Losses
Sep 27 2017 // Mexican government officials are still tallying up the economic losses of the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that caused widespread damage in the capital, but for the manager of a downtown restaurant it is already all too...
Mounting Catastrophe Claims Could Weaken Re/Insurers’ Capital Reserves: Fitch
Sep 27 2017 // Ratings downgrades for global insurers and reinsurers are becoming more probable as they face more than $100 billion in 2017 catastrophe losses, a figure that threatens to weaken their capital reserves, Fitch Ratings Inc....
Evacuations Ordered on North Carolina Outer Banks for Hurricane Maria
Sep 26 2017 // An evacuation was underway Tuesday on an island on North Carolina’s Outer Banks as Hurricane Maria moved north. The Hyde County Sheriff’s office said the evacuation began at 5 a.m. Monday on Ocracoke Island. It...
UK SMEs Face BI Coverage Gaps After Terrorist Events: Pool Re Report
Sep 26 2017 // Many terrorism insurance policies are triggered when there is physical damage to a property. As a result, commercial insurance buyers may find that they are unprotected against business interruption losses if there is...
Damage From Rare Utah Tornado Still Being Felt a Year Later
Sep 26 2017 // Damage from a rare tornado that ripped through a Utah county a year ago still lingers in the homes and minds of people who live in its path. The twister gutted 12 homes and damaged dozens more in Weber County, causing a...
Insured Losses in Caribbean from Hurricane Maria Estimated at $40B-$85B: AIR
Sep 26 2017 // Industry insured losses for Hurricane Maria in the Caribbean will be between US$40 billion and US$85 billion, according to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide. Puerto Rico alone accounts for more than 85 percent of the...
2 Wildfires In Northern California Destroy or Damage Multiple Homes
Sep 25 2017 // Authorities say multiple homes and other structures have been destroyed or damaged in two wildfires that broke out over the weekend in Northern California. Fire officials in Auburn northeast of Sacramento said flames that...
Storm Watch Issued for North Carolina as Puerto Rico, Markets Weigh Maria’s Economic Costs
Sep 24 2017 // Storm watches have been issued for North Carolina as the U.S. is threatened by a hurricane for the fourth time in a month. Tropical storm watches, meaning winds of at least 39 miles (63 kilometers) per hour could reach the...
How Home Values Track with High, Low Risk of Natural Hazards: ATTOM Data
Sep 22 2017 // Americans are still buying homes in areas with high risk of natural hazards and the homes in those cities continue to appreciate in value far faster than homes in low natural hazard locales. However, the effect on home...
New Bridge Design Tested by Nevada Quake Lab Following Mexico Quake
Sep 22 2017 // Scientists at a Nevada earthquake lab this week tested new bridge designs with connectors they say are innovative and created to better withstand violent temblors and speed reconstruction efforts after major quake...
Natural Disasters Begin to Hit Profits of Global Reinsurers
Sep 22 2017 // A profit warning from one of the world’s largest reinsurers is the latest sign that the death and destruction from a spate of hurricanes and earthquakes in North America are now taking a toll on the titans of global...
Power Restored For All But 75K Florida Residents, But Utilities Face Criticism
Sep 22 2017 // After a massive restoration effort, most of Florida has power 10 days after Hurricane Irma knocked out electricity to nearly two-thirds of the state, mostly because of improvements made to the power grid since Hurricane...
Insurance Industry Tallies Irma’s Mounting Losses in Florida
Sep 22 2017 // With two Florida landfalls in the same day, Hurricane Irma‘s destructive wind and flood damage could cost up to $65 billion for both insured and uninsured losses, according to a recent estimate by...
Insurance Industry Foundation Opens Charity Fund for Hurricane Irma Victims
Sep 21 2017 // The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF), a nonprofit organization for insurance industry charitable giving, has launched a new disaster relief fund to assist the millions affected by the catastrophic damage of...
East Coast Watching Effect of ‘Zombie’ Storm Jose on Maria’s Path
Sep 21 2017 // Hurricane Maria continued its thunderous roll northward as forecasters struggled to pin down a trajectory. Whether the storm makes landfall again could be determined by a zombie. That’s what former Hurricane Jose...
Global Reinsurers Face Exposures to Mexico City Earthquake: Morgan Stanley
Sep 21 2017 // Global reinsurers will likely face exposures from a massive magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck Mexico City on Sept. 19, Morgan Stanley said in a new research note. This earthquake led to dozens of deaths and the toppling...
Talanx Warns 2017 Profits Could Be Hit by Hannover Re’s Catastrophe Claims
Sep 21 2017 // German insurer Talanx warned it may miss its profit target for 2017 as its reinsurer, Hannover Re, is being hit by major claims from a series of hurricanes and an earthquake in Mexico. Reinsurers face big losses from...
States Need Better Protections for Insurance Consumers in Natural Disasters: Rutgers Report
Sep 21 2017 // As homeowners continue to file insurance claims in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, a research report released by the Rutgers Center for Risk and Responsibility at the Rutgers Law School in Camden, N.J., suggests...
Fitch: Hurricane Irma Losses Substantial, But Won’t Weaken Insurer Ratings
Sep 21 2017 // Estimated insured losses for the insurance industry for Hurricane Irma range from $25 to $50 billion based on various loss estimates, according to a report from Fitch Ratings. The ratings agency said these losses will...
Hurricane Maria Carves Path of Destruction Through Puerto Rico
Sep 20 2017 // Hurricane Maria, the strongest storm to strike Puerto Rico in nearly 90 years, carved a path of destruction through the U.S. territory on Wednesday, causing widespread flooding and knocking power out across the island...
