Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Number of Deaths From Oklahoma Tornadoes, Storms Rises to 4
Apr 1 2015 // The death toll from tornadoes and strong storms last week in Oklahoma has risen to four people. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner had earlier said that one person died when the severe weather struck a mobile home...
PERILS Updates Insurance Industry Exposure Database & Adds Austria
Apr 1 2015 // Catastrophe insurance data provider PERILS AG announced the release of the 2015 update for its Industry Exposure Database (IED), “contains updated market-wide property sums insured for European windstorm for the...
Philippines Braces for Super Typhoon Maysak; People Head to Beaches
Apr 1 2015 // The Philippines placed its military on its highest alert level and asked millions of people heading to beach resorts for Easter holidays to prepare for Super Typhoon Maysak, a category-5 storm expected to hit land on April...
More Counties Added to Oklahoma Earthquake Watch List
Mar 30 2015 // Oklahoma officials are expanding the number of counties that are included in earthquake “areas of interest,” and asking nearly 100 companies to prove their oil and gas waste-water disposal wells are not too...
Michigan’s Auto Insurance Catastrophic Injury Fee to Drop to $150
Mar 27 2015 // The annual auto insurance fee that Michigan drivers pay toward caring for people catastrophically injured in crashes is dropping from $186 to $150. The Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association announced March 25 that the...
Storms Sweep Through Oklahoma with Tornadoes, Hail
Mar 26 2015 // Oklahoma Attorney General Pruitt announced that Oklahoma’s Emergency Price Stabilization Act is now in effect for 25 Oklahoma counties after Gov. Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency due to tornadoes, severe...
Arkansas, Oklahoma, Warned of Hail, High Wind-Packing Storms
Mar 25 2015 // While there has been a curious lack of tornadoes throughout the country’s midsection, that may soon change, according to federal weather forecasters. A cold front approaching Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri is...
2014 Insured Cat Losses below Average at $35 Bn: Swiss Re Sigma Report
Mar 25 2015 // Swiss Re has just released its sigma report on catastrophe losses for 2014, which confirms that total global economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters were around $110 billion, compared to global...
Texas Windstorm Insurer: Private Carrier Interested in 60K Policies
Mar 24 2015 // The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) announced that a carrier participating in its depopulation program has signaled an interest in around 60,000 policies that currently are on TWIA’s books. TWIA is the...
As West Bakes and Northeast Shivers, Elsewhere Tornadoes Almost Disappear
Mar 24 2015 // The same weather pattern that made the West warm and dry and the Northeast cold and snowy has contributed to keeping the rest of the U.S. relatively free of tornadoes so far this year. In the first two months of 2015,...
Feds to Release New Earthquake Hazard Map for Oklahoma
Mar 23 2015 // The U.S. Geological Survey is expected to release a new hazard map for earthquakes in Oklahoma. The Oklahoman reports that data collection has continued with the help of the Oklahoma Geological Survey after the state...
Guy Carpenter Report Reveals Greatest Tsunami Risk Lies in Taiwan
Mar 23 2015 // Guy Carpenter’s new scenario risk report for the Asia-Pacific region predicts the greatest tsunami risk in the area lies in Taiwan. The report, titled “Tsunami Risk from Magnitude 9.4 Earthquake in Manila...
CEA Kicks off Earthquake Insurance Selling Program for Agents
Mar 23 2015 // The California Earthquake Authority has again kicked off its annual “Marketing Value Program,” in which the quasi-private earthquake insurer encourages agents to sign up to receive direct mail marketing...
Increased Chance of Big One in Long-Term Quake Forecast for California
Mar 23 2015 // Chances that California will experience a magnitude 8 or larger earthquake in the next 30 years has increased from 4.7 to 7.0 percent, according to an earthquake forecast by the U.S. Geological Survey and its partners. The...
Jury Verdict Favors Texas Insurer in Hidalgo County Hail Claim Case
Mar 23 2015 // A Texas-based insurance company has prevailed in the first lawsuit to go to trial over claims from two massive hailstorms in Hidalgo County, Texas, in 2012. The 12-member jury in Amaro v. National Lloyds found that...
Wildfire in 2015: What to Expect?
Mar 23 2015 // The past two years did not result in the amount of wildfire activity that many wildfire scientists, foresters and fire responders had expected. Looking back, the 2013 season had the earmarks of a bad year, with the...
Wildfire in 2015: What to Expect?
Mar 21 2015 // The past two years did not result in the amount of wildfire activity that many wildfire scientists, foresters and fire responders had expected. Looking back, the 2013 season had the earmarks of a bad year, with the...
Crestbrook to Offer Wildfire Mitigation for High Value Homeowners
Mar 20 2015 // Crestbrook Insurance Co., an affluent market personal lines carrier, has launched Crestbrook Wildfire Solution Program in collaboration with Wildfire Defense Systems (WDS), an insurance wildfire loss prevention and...
Natural Disasters Could Cost $750 Billion Annually in 15 Years: AIR Study
Mar 19 2015 // Economic losses from global natural catastrophes likely will triple over the next 15 years, unless steps are taken to reduce bad development choices, according to preliminary results of a catastrophe modeling study...
Wildfire Spreads in Western Oklahoma, Homes Evacuated
Mar 18 2015 // Emergency personnel say about a dozen people have been evacuated from their homes because of wildfire that has burned 37 square miles in rural western Oklahoma. Woodward County emergency manager Matt Lehenbauer said on...
