Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Reinsurers Hold Bulk of Jamaica’s Property Exposures From Hurricane Melissa: Reports
Oct 29 2025 // Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica as a powerful category 5 storm – a record for the Caribbean island nation — which brought storm surge, torrential rain, strong winds and massive damages. Making landfall...
Hurricane Melissa Makes Cuba Landfall After Lashing Jamaica
Oct 29 2025 // Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Cuba less than a day after it became the strongest recorded storm to strike Jamaica, where it left hundreds of thousands without power and forced hospitals to evacuate. Melissa crossed...
‘Catastrophic’ Hack Underscores Public Defender Security Gaps
Oct 29 2025 // Recent cyberattacks on public defenders’ offices in multiple Western US states have spotlighted the technological vulnerabilities of an often overlooked but critical part of the US judicial system. Public defenders,...
Jamaica Catastrophe Bondholders Now Face Full-Trigger Event
Oct 28 2025 // Investors in Jamaica’s catastrophe bond now face a full trigger event that would force payment of the entire $150 million bond to help the island deal with fallout from Hurricane Melissa. That’s according to...
Ex-PIMCO Executive Plans to Launch Europe’s First ETF Based on Catastrophe Bonds
Oct 28 2025 // Europe may soon get its first exchange-traded fund based on catastrophe bonds. An application to register the ETF was filed in Ireland, according to Rick Pagnani, co-founder and chief executive officer of King Ridge...
Update: Hurricane Melissa Bears Down on Jamaica as Category 5 Storm
Oct 28 2025 // Hurricane Melissa is churning toward Jamaica as the island’s worst-ever storm, with high winds and flooding rains already pummeling coastal areas in the hours before landfall. Melissa’s top winds reached 185...
Catastrophe Bond Investors Told to Brace for Jamaica Payout
Oct 28 2025 // Investors in a catastrophe bond tied to Jamaica look set to experience a trigger event as Hurricane Melissa barrels toward the Caribbean island as a Category 5 storm. “Based on current models there is a high chance...
Hurricane Melissa Churns Toward Jamaica as Category 5 Storm
Oct 27 2025 // Hurricane Melissa plowed toward Jamaica as a powerful Category 5 storm, threatening to bring widespread destruction to the island. Melissa’s top winds reached 165 miles (266 kilometers) per hour, up from 160 mph...
Intruders Release Mink From Iowa Farm in What Trade Group Calls ‘Terrorist Act’
Oct 27 2025 // One or more intruders broke into an Iowa mink farm and released 2,000 of the furbearing animals in what a trade group called a “terrorist act” under federal law. Sometime between last Monday night and Tuesday...
Tropical Storm Melissa Brings Heavy Rain to Haiti, Dominican Republic and Jamaica
Oct 23 2025 // Tropical Storm Melissa began dumping heavy rain on Hispaniola on Tuesday as forecasters warned of a significant flood risk in parts of the Caribbean region later this week. The rains snarled traffic in the Dominican...
Industry Groups Applaud Bill to Treat Forests, Mitigate Wildfire Risk
Oct 23 2025 // Insurance industry trades praised a Senate committee for the passage this week of the Fix Our Forests Act, a measure to address high-risk wildfire regions. “The risk of wildfire can no longer be ignored or...
Catastrophe Bonds’ Huge Market Gains Put Reinsurers on Backfoot
Oct 21 2025 // The seemingly unstoppable rise of catastrophe bonds may now be eroding the market share of reinsurers. After years of raising prices, reinsurers are finding that primary insurers have started relying less on them and more...
Charges Dropped Against Owner of Dog Found Left Behind in Hurricane Milton
Oct 20 2025 // Criminal charges have been dropped against a Florida man who authorities said abandoned his tied-up dog in floodwaters near a highway as residents evacuated Florida’s Gulf Coast last year shortly before Hurricane...
Travelers Q3 Net Income Soars 50% on Lower Catastrophe Losses
Oct 16 2025 // Third quarter net income at The Travelers Cos. increased 50% compared with the same period a year ago, to about $1.9 billion on lower catastrophe losses. Catastrophe losses for the third quarter this year were $402 million...
‘Catastrophic’ Hacks Warning Follows Intrusion of Cyber Firm F5
Oct 16 2025 // The cybersecurity company F5 Inc. said nation-state hackers breached its networks, gaining “long-term, persistent access” to certain systems and stealing some source code. The breach prompted alerts from...
1 Dead, 2 Missing and Dozens Rescued After Remnants of Typhoon Lashed Alaska
Oct 15 2025 // One person was dead and two were missing in western Alaska after the remnants of Typhoon Halong over the weekend brought hurricane-force winds and ravaging storm surges and floodwaters that swept some homes away,...
La Niña’s Back, but Will It Amp Up Hurricane Season?
Oct 10 2025 // La Nina, the cooler and at times costlier flip side of El Nino, has arrived to warp weather worldwide, meteorologists said Thursday. This natural weather phenomenon often turbocharges the Atlantic hurricane season, but...
Florida County Hit by 2024 Hurricanes Takes on Beach Restoration Without Fed Help
Oct 10 2025 // The white sandy beaches along a swath of Florida’s Gulf Coast were battered by three hurricanes last year, leading to a multimillion-dollar effort to repair a coastline that is the region’s economic...
Man Charged With ‘Maliciously’ Starting Massive LA Wildfire
Oct 8 2025 // Federal authorities arrested a 29-year-old man on charges that he intentionally started the blaze that days later became the Palisades Fire, which killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes in the Pacific Coast area...
EF5 Tornado That killed 3 in North Dakota was Nation’s First in 12 years
Oct 8 2025 // A deadly tornado that tore across southeastern North Dakota this summer has been upgraded to an EF5 with winds topping 200 mph (322 kph), the strongest classification of tornado and the first confirmed on American soil in...
