Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
El Nino Could Signal Tornado Activity in South: Researchers
Mar 17 2015 // The waters of the Pacific Ocean may provide some clues on what kind of tornado season will erupt across the southern U.S., according to a paper in the journal Nature Geoscience. The study found that if the Pacific enters...
Oklahoma Contractor Charged with Defrauding Moore Tornado Victims
Mar 16 2015 // Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has charged a Tulsa contractor with two felony counts of embezzlement for fraudulent business practices in rebuilding homes damaged by the May 2013 tornado. The AG’s office said...
Palomar, TriCoast Insurance Launch Windstorm-Hurricane Product in Hawaii
Mar 13 2015 // Palomar Specialty Insurance Co. has partnered with TriCoast Insurance Services, LLC to offer a residential windstorm-hurricane insurance product in Hawaii. The product is a stand-alone hurricane coverage that will be...
Nat Cat Risks Aggravated by Persistent Extreme Weather Conditions: Munich Re
Mar 13 2015 // Munich Re has published a report, which notes that “over the past years, persistent extreme weather conditions have triggered severe natural catastrophes and caused losses in the billion range.” In addition the...
RMS Study Shows Significant Tsunami Risk in Caribbean, Mediterranean
Mar 12 2015 // RMS, the catastrophe risk management firm, has released a global tsunami risk study that identifies more than 20 subduction zones worldwide capable of generating a giant earthquake and tsunami – similar in scale to...
Increased Chance of Big One in Long-Term Quake Forecast for California
Mar 11 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...
Earthquake Risks Are Rising, but Take-Up Isn’t
Mar 11 2015 // The West Coast’s risk of ruin is even greater than we previously feared. According to the just-released Third Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast, the likelihood that California could see an earthquake of...
Florida Ends Citizens Assessment Two Years Ahead of Schedule
Mar 10 2015 // Florida’s insurance regulators are two years ahead of schedule in ending an assessment used to retire a bond issued by the state-backed property insurer Citizens following the eight-storm 2004-2005 hurricane...
Low Catastrophe Claims Help to Boost Full-Year Profit for Hannover Re
Mar 10 2015 // Hannover Re, the world’s third-biggest reinsurer, plans to pay a special dividend after fourth-quarter profit rose more than analysts estimated, helped by low catastrophe claims. The shares climbed. Net income rose...
Jury Verdict Favors Texas Insurer in Hidalgo County Hail Claim Case
Mar 9 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...
CEA Kicks off Earthquake Insurance Selling Program for Agents
Mar 9 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...
USGS: M5.7 Earthquake Off Alaska Over Weekend Felt by Few
Mar 9 2015 // The U.S. Geological Survey says there was a magnitude-5.7 earthquake in the western Aleutian Islands but it wasn’t felt by any Alaska communities. The quake hit early Saturday at a depth of about 6 miles. The...
Sophisticated Resilience Model in Development in Colorado – And It’ll be Free
Mar 9 2015 // Efforts are underway in Colorado to build a sophisticated computer model that will offer a look down to the minute details at just how communities may withstand — or crumble under — perils like earthquakes,...
More than 2.5K Oklahoma Agents Take Earthquake Coverage Class
Mar 9 2015 // With earthquake swarms steadily increasing in Oklahoma, the state insurance department reports that more than 2,500 Oklahoma insurance professionals have completed a one-hour continuing education course on earthquake...
Oklahoma, U.S. Differ in Earthquake Calculations
Mar 9 2015 // The Oklahoma Geological Survey reported fewer than half the number of 4.0 magnitude and higher earthquakes in Oklahoma last year as the U.S. Geological Survey, according to agency records. While OGS reported six...
Report: Wildfire Reconstruction of West’s Riskiest Homes – $237B
Mar 9 2015 // In the Western United States there are nearly 900,000 homes representing an estimated reconstruction cost of more than $237 billion considered at “very high” or “high” risk from wildfires, a report...
Liberty Mutual Reports Q4 Gains Despite Jump in Catastrophes
Mar 6 2015 // Liberty Mutual Holding Co. finished out 2014 with gains in net written premium, net income and an improved combined ratio. But catastrophe losses jumped substantially due to costs from a number of severe storms. David...
Oklahoma Commissioner Warns Insurers on Denial of Earthquake Claims
Mar 4 2015 // With the dramatic increase in the number of earthquakes in Oklahoma — which some say are at least partly attributed to waste water injection wells related to the practice of hydraulic fracturing in oil and gas drilling...
Hurricane Sandy Victims Reach First Set of FEMA Insurance Settlements
Mar 3 2015 // Federal disaster assistance officials have begun reaching settlements with more than 1,000 Hurricane Sandy victims who allege they were unfairly denied flood insurance claims or paid too little for them. Lawyers for...
Canadian Pacific Railway’s CEO Says Biggest Crude-by-Rail Fear Is Terrorism
Mar 3 2015 // Hunter Harrison, Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.’s chief executive officer, said his greatest fear in moving crude by rail is the prospect of a terrorist attack on the company’s trains. “That’s what...
