Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California Wildfire Contained, Now Comes Worries About Landslides
Dec 29 2015 // As firefighters mopped up the remains of a wildfire on the Southern California coast, authorities turned their focus to a new concern: a landslide if rain pounds the charred hills. In a heavy rain, the denuded soil could...
Australia Wildfire Insurance Losses Double to A$53 Million ($38 Million)
Dec 29 2015 // Losses from wildfires that destroyed more than 100 homes along a popular tourist stretch in southeastern Australia more than doubled in two days to A$53 million ($38 million) and are expected to climb further, the...
Tornado Touched Down in Western Ohio: Weather Service
Dec 28 2015 // The National Weather Service has that confirmed a rare December tornado touched down in western Ohio. The weather service says the tornado had an estimated maximum wind speed of 65 mph and did not cause any injuries. The...
President Signs Disaster Declaration Following Idaho Windstorm
Dec 28 2015 // President Barack Obama signed a disaster declaration for Idaho due to a powerful windstorm in the northern part of the state in November and ordered federal aid. The money can be used by state, tribal, local governments...
Texas Storms That Spawned Tornadoes Kill at Least 11
Dec 28 2015 // Tornadoes that swept through the Dallas, Texas area caused substantial damage and at least 11 people died either from the storm or related traffic accidents and dozens of people were injured. It’s the latest of a...
ICA Declares Christmas Day Bushfires in State of Victoria a Catastrophe
Dec 28 2015 // The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has declared a Catastrophe for areas of Victoria’s Great Ocean Road region affected by Christmas Day bushfires. ICA CEO Rob Whelan said the declaration enabled the insurance...
Peru Insurance Regulator Approves AIR Worldwide’s Earthquake Model
Dec 23 2015 // Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide, a division of Verisk Analytics, announced that its earthquake model for Peru has been officially approved by Peruvian insurance regulator Superintendencia de Banca y Seguros (SBS)...
Forecasters Warn of Severe Storms, Possible Tornadoes in Alabama
Dec 22 2015 // Forecasters say severe storms – including the threat of tornadoes – will be possible on Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday evening across Alabama. The National Weather Service in Birmingham says an area that...
Oklahoma Judge Won’t Toss Suit over Earthquake Damage
Dec 22 2015 // An Oklahoma judge has rejected a request from two energy companies to throw out a lawsuit by a woman who claims she was injured in an earthquake caused by the injection of wastewater. Lincoln County District Judge Cynthia...
Flood, Fraud & the Florida Market: McCarty Talks Hot Insurance Topics in 2015
Dec 21 2015 // It was another busy year for the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR). From conducting the annual property/casualty data call and subsequent stress test of Florida property insurers, to working on the depopulation...
Insurance Executive Sees Problems, Opportunities in L.A.’s Earthquake Law
Dec 21 2015 // It’s a big question in front of landlords of thousands of Los Angeles properties early next year. When the Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted in October for new earthquake retrofit regulations it put in play...
Swiss Re 2015 Economic Cat Loss Initial Estimates = $85Bn; $32Bn Insured
Dec 18 2015 // Swiss Re’s latest sigma report preliminarily estimates that total economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters will reach approximately $85 billion in 2015. Insured losses, however, were just $32...
Insurance Council of Australia Declares Sydney Storms a Catastrophe
Dec 17 2015 // The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has declared a catastrophe after storms struck New South Wales, in particular Sydney’s eastern and southern suburbs. The ICA’s bulletin notes that the “storms...
Typhoon Melor Hits Philippines with Fierce Winds and Flooding: AIR
Dec 16 2015 // A report from catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide, describes Super Typhoon Melor, known locally as Nona, as having struck the Philippines on Monday, December 14, 2015, at around 3:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. local time) near...
Kansas Sees More, but Mostly Weak, Tornadoes in 2015
Dec 15 2015 // Meteorologists say Kansas saw more tornadoes than normal this year, but all but a few were weak and short-lived. The Wichita Eagle reports there were 108 tornadoes in Kansas by the end of August, 18 more than normal for...
Report: Southeast States Unprepared for Future Risks from Climate Change
Dec 11 2015 // Source: States at Risk Many states across the country, particularly in the Southeast, are unprepared to face the risks posed from extreme heat, drought, wildfires, inland flooding, coastal flooding and other extreme...
Energy Companies Want Oklahoma Judge to Toss Earthquake Suit
Dec 10 2015 // Two energy companies asked a judge on Dec. 9 to throw out a lawsuit by an Oklahoma woman who claims she was injured in an earthquake caused by the injection of wastewater deep into the ground — a long-used method to...
India Floods Top Aon Benfield/Impact Forecasting’s November Cat Recap
Dec 8 2015 // Impact Forecasting, Aon Benfield’s catastrophe model development team, has issued the latest edition of its monthly Global Catastrophe Recap report, which evaluates the impact of natural disaster events that occurred...
Insurance Executive Sees Problems, Opportunities in L.A.’s Earthquake Law
Dec 7 2015 // Powered by InsuranceJournal.tv Who’s going to pay? It’s a big question in front of landlords of thousands of Los Angeles properties early next year. When the Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted in...
Karen Clark Adds US Earthquake Reference Model to Modeling Platform
Dec 7 2015 // Karen Clark & Company (KCC) has released a new US earthquake Reference Model as part of the RiskInsight open loss modeling platform. The earthquake model is based on the latest 2014 US Geological Survey (USGS) report...
