Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Parts of Virginia Beach Face Long Recovery from Hurricane Matthew
Oct 18 2016 // For some neighborhoods in Virginia Beach, the long recovery from flooding caused by Hurricane Matthew is just beginning. On Saturday, emergency management crews and other officials toured several communities where homes...
Slow Pace of Insurance Payouts, Rebuilding Angers Alberta Wildfire Victims
Oct 18 2016 // Some five months after the wildfires that devastated Fort McMurray were extinguished, anger over red tape and the slow pace of insurance payouts and permit issuance is flaring in the remote northern Canadian city. More...
A.M. Best: Damage From Hurricane Matthew Won’t Affect Most Insurer Ratings
Oct 18 2016 // A.M. Best does not anticipate a significant number of rating actions related to Hurricane Matthew, as most rated insurance carriers have sufficient capital and appropriate reinsurance programs in place to effectively...
Earthquake Policy Sales up, and May Continue to Rise Following ShakeOut
Oct 17 2016 // Powered by InsuranceJournal.tv It’s still a few days until the annual Great ShakeOut earthquake drills during which people in homes, schools, and organizations practice what to do during earthquakes – the events...
North Carolina Estimates $1.5B in Hurricane Damage to Buildings
Oct 17 2016 // North Carolina emergency officials have estimated that the destructive and deadly Hurricane Matthew caused $1.5 billion worth of damage to more than 100,000 homes, businesses and government buildings in the state. The...
Study: Kansas’ Largest Earthquake Likely Caused by Wastewater Injection
Oct 17 2016 // The largest recorded earthquake in Kansas history was likely the result of wastewater injected into the ground by one or two nearby wells, according to a new study from the U.S. Geological Survey found. The 4.9 magnitude...
Weather Service: Tornado, Rain Walloped Pacific Northwest
Oct 17 2016 // A tornado struck an Oregon beach town, sending debris flying and toppling power lines and trees as strong winds and heavy rain walloped the Pacific Northwest over the weekend, according to the National Weather...
Virginia Police Urge Caution When Making Post Hurricane Matthew Repairs
Oct 17 2016 // Virginia State Police are urging residents to be cautious as they repair their homes and vehicles that suffered damage during Hurricane Matthew. Officials with the State Police Insurance Fraud say residents should check...
Typhoon Sarika Hits Philippines, Killing at Least 2 People, Displacing Thousands
Oct 17 2016 // Typhoon Sarika made landfall in eastern Philippines on Sunday after leaving at least two people dead a day earlier, thousands of villagers displaced and hundreds of planes grounded. Locally named Karen, the typhoon...
Floods from Matthew in Eastern North Carolina Called ‘Worse than Floyd’
Oct 17 2016 // Standing on the banks of the Neuse River this week, watching water creep ever-closer to the bottom of the King Street Bridge, crowds of people continually compared what was happening to what Hurricane Floyd wrought here 17...
Take1 Insurance Launches Terrorism, Crisis Coverage for Special Events
Oct 17 2016 // Take1 Insurance has introduced Take1 Combined Crisis Cover insurance protection for the live and special event industry. The coverage provides immediate coverage of up to $1 million annually in the event of, or threat of,...
Hurricane Matthew Devastates Georgia Pecan, Cotton Crops
Oct 17 2016 // Georgia’s top agriculture official says Hurricane Matthew hit the state’s pecan and cotton farmers hard. Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Gary Black says he toured farms in three counties this week following...
FEMA Questions Mississippi City’s Spending of 2014 Tornado Recovery Grant
Oct 17 2016 // A division of the federal government says the city of Louisville, Miss., should repay a $25.4 million grant awarded for recovery from a 2014 tornado. However, state Auditor Stacey Pickering said he is working with federal...
Wildfires Threaten Alabama; Governor Signs No Burn Order
Oct 14 2016 // Gov. Robert Bentley on Wednesday signed an order banning outside fires across most of Alabama because dry conditions have led to fast-spreading wildfires. The governor signed the drought emergency declaration, putting 46...
Hurricane Matthew May Be Gone, But Insurance Industry’s Work is Just Starting
Oct 14 2016 // It’s been nearly a week since Hurricane Matthew ravaged the Southeast coast but the insurance industry’s job of responding to the devastation and assessing the total cost of damage from the storm is just...
Hurricane Nicole Weakens After Direct Bermuda Hit; Storm Trackers Comment
Oct 14 2016 // Hurricane Nicole made a direct hit on Bermuda Thursday as the strongest hurricane to affect the Atlantic archipelago in 13 years, according to a report issued by Weather Underground. The storm’s impact on Bermuda has...
AIR Estimates Hurricane Matthew Insured Losses at $8.8 Billion
Oct 13 2016 // Hurricane Matthew, which devastated parts of the Caribbean before battering the U.S. East Coast, may cost insurers as much as $8.8 billion, according to AIR Worldwide. The catastrophe-modeling firm estimates insured losses...
Experts Warn of Long Waits for Post-Hurricane Home Repairs
Oct 13 2016 // There will be plenty of large-scale reconstruction to do in the wake of Hurricane Matthew, which has been blamed for dozens of deaths since it made its first U.S. landfall Friday and is still causing catastrophic flooding...
Using Big Data to Predict Terrorist Acts Amid Privacy Concerns
Oct 13 2016 // Before Ahmad Khan Rahami planted bombs in New York and New Jersey, he bought bomb-making materials on eBay, linked to jihad-related videos from his public social-media account and was looked into by law enforcement agents,...
Caribbean Cat Facility, CCRIF, to Pay $29.2M to Nations Hit by Hurricane Matthew
Oct 13 2016 // CCRIF SPC (formerly the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility) will make payouts of US$29.2 million to CCRIF member countries as a result of damages incurred from Hurricane Matthew. The payouts, which will be made...
