Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
More Evacuations in Northern California Wildfire
Sep 4 2014 // Crews battling a wildfire in a far Northern California forest have expanded a mandatory evacuation order and expect another day of gusty winds and dry conditions that could push the fire over containment lines and into...
Marsh Launches Catastrophic Cyber Policy For Large Companies
Sep 4 2014 // Marsh, a global insurance broker, risk manager and a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Cos., has launched a new cyber insurance policy that provides catastrophic protection for large companies seeking to...
Hurricane Norbert Moving up Mexico’s West Coast; Strengthening Expected: NHC
Sep 4 2014 // The National Hurricane Center in Miami is tracking Hurricane Norbert, the 14th named Western Pacific storm of the season, as it moves up the West coast of Mexico towards the Baja Peninsula. The NHC’s most recent...
Tropical Storm Dolly Moves Ashore off Gulf of Mexico
Sep 4 2014 // Heavy rains from Tropical Storm Dolly threatened flash floods and mudslides in mountainous areas as it moved in from Mexico’s Gulf coast, where authorities had readied shelters and suspended school classes on...
Insured Losses From the Napa Quake Pegged at $250M or Less
Sep 3 2014 // Insured losses from the Aug. 24 earthquake that struck Napa, Calif. will not exceed $250 million, according to a risk management firm. Widespread damage was expected from the 6.0 magnitude event, but there wasn’t...
California State Funds Continue to Shake Up Cat Bond Market
Sep 3 2014 // California’s recent “Winequake” brought the public’s focus back to the state’s significant vulnerability to seismic events. Fortunately, the tremors, while costly, did not tally a high human...
Storms Trigger Tornadoes, Hail, Floods Throughout Midwest
Sep 3 2014 // A storm spotter was hospitalized in Iowa on Sept. 1 after he was struck by lightning while watching a system that left swollen rivers, power outages, trees down and campers overturned. More strong storms rumbled through...
Oklahoma’s Low Tornado Count Result of Cold Weather, Experts Say
Sep 3 2014 // Oklahoma’s extremely cold winter last year and earlier this year likely kept the number of tornadoes this past spring at the state’s lowest levels since 1988, weather experts say. Only 13 tornadoes hit the...
3 Reasons Congress Should Renew TRIA
Sep 3 2014 // U.S. insurance markets, like the rest of the nation, were caught off guard by the Sept.11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Loss of life and property led to an estimated $32.5 billion dollars in insured losses – $43 billion in...
S&P Report Warns Reinsurers Not to Ignore Global Impact of Climate Change
Sep 3 2014 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has announced the publication of its annual “Global Reinsurance Highlights” to coincide with the 2014 Reinsurance Rendezvous in September. S&P said the...
‘Worst Market in Memory’ to Keep Pressure on Reinsurance Rates
Sep 3 2014 // The worst reinsurance market in memory looks set to carry into 2015, industry executives said. An absence of costly disasters and increasing competition from new entrants dragged on prices this year, and reinsurers may...
Cyber Attacks on Banks Color Terrorism Insurance Renewal Debate
Sep 1 2014 // Bankers and U.S. officials have warned that cyber-terrorists will try to wreck the financial system’s computer networks. What they aren’t saying publicly is that taxpayers will probably have to cover much of...
Louisiana’s Homeowners Market Stronger 9 Years after Katrina
Aug 29 2014 // Louisiana’s property insurance market is vastly improved nine years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the state on Aug. 29, 2005, largely due to the implementation of statewide building codes and strategies that...
UPDATE: Iceland Lowers Volcano Alert; Small Eruption No Threat to Aviation
Aug 29 2014 // Iceland reduced its aviation warning level to orange on Friday after concluding that a small eruption in the Bardarbunga volcano system that triggered a hours-long red alert actually posed no threat to aircraft. No sign of...
Busy Week for Those Assessing Damage from Napa Quake
Aug 29 2014 // “It’s been a busy week,” said Glen Pomeroy, CEO of the California Earthquake Authority. The magnitude 6.1 earthquake that struck Northern California in the early hours of Aug. 24 may cause up to $4...
Ugly Is Beautiful for Hurricane Forecaster
Aug 29 2014 // When it comes to Atlantic hurricanes, brief and ugly is beautiful, at least to Phil Klotzbach, lead author of Colorado State University’s seasonal storm forecast. That’s because a ragged-looking tropical system...
Mass. DOI: Insurers Received Over 1,300 Claims From Revere Tornado
Aug 27 2014 // The Massachusetts Division of Insurance (DOI) said the state’s insurers have so far received more than 1,300 claims from a rare tornado that ripped through the coastal city of Revere on July 28. The DOI said...
Oklahoma to Require Earthquake Insurance Education for Producers
Aug 27 2014 // Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin has approved an emergency rule adopted by Insurance Commissioner John D. Doak that requires all licensed producers and adjusters with the property line of authority to complete one hour of...
Texas Considers Tougher Rules on Disoposal Wells
Aug 27 2014 // As scientists investigate whether injection wells where the booming oil and gas industry disposes of wastewater cause earthquakes, the Texas agency that oversees oil and gas is proposing a regulatory overhaul. The Texas...
Cleanup from Napa Quake shouldn’t deter tourists, Businesses Say
Aug 27 2014 // Napa, Calif. business owners mopped up high-end vintages that spilled from barrels and bottles and swept away broken glass in the rush to get the tourist hotspot back in shape for the summer’s final holiday weekend...
