Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Texas A&M: Lessons We Learned From Hurricane Ike
Sep 17 2013 // Sept. 13 marked the fifth anniversary of the landfall of Hurricane Ike on the Texas coast. Despite its Category 2 ranking when it hit, Ike caused more than $30 billion in damage and the lessons learned from it could be...
Karen Clark & Co. Report Looks Back at New England Hurricane of 1938
Sep 16 2013 // Karen Clark & Company, independent experts in catastrophe risk, catastrophe models and catastrophe risk management, issued a report, in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of the Great New England Hurricane,...
Video Interviews – Coming to Your Screen – a Sneak Preview
Sep 16 2013 // Over the next several weeks we will be releasing a series of video interviews, recorded at the Reinsurance Rendez-vous in Monte Carlo. They are wide ranging, covering a number of topics. They will air the views from some...
Thousands Evacuated in Japan as Typhoon Man-Yi Brings Floods
Sep 16 2013 // Hundreds of thousands of people were advised or ordered to evacuate in Japan as Typhoon Man-Yi brought flooding, power blackouts and flight cancellations to the western and central parts of the country. At least one person...
Hurricane Ingrid Nears Mexico as Manuel Dissipates Over Land
Sep 16 2013 // Hurricane Ingrid, bearing down on eastern Mexico as Tropical Depression Manuel dissipated over west-central areas, will probably make landfall today, with both systems forecast to bring life-threatening floods. The second...
September Tornado Spotted In Far Northern Minnesota
Sep 13 2013 // A September tornado has been spotted in far northern Minnesota. The National Weather Service says a trained spotter reported the tornado two miles northwest of Williams in Lake of the Woods County before 3:30 p.m....
Damage From Large Wisconsin Wildfire Estimated At $1M
Sep 13 2013 // A fire that damaged a 10-mile swath of forest land in northwestern Wisconsin this spring caused at least $1 million in damage, according to the timber company that owns most of the affected land. The massive blaze in...
California Wildfire More Destructive Than Thought
Sep 13 2013 // Fire officials say crews assessing the damage from a Northern California wildfire have determined 68 homes were destroyed. That’s up from the earlier tally of 37. State fire information officer Roy Del Carlo said...
Tropical Depression in Gulf of Mexico Strengthens, Closes Ports
Sep 13 2013 // A tropical depression in the southern Gulf of Mexico is strengthening, prompting the closure of two top oil export terminals, and could unleash life-threatening flooding, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on...
Texas Windstorm Insurance Rates to Rise Again in January
Sep 12 2013 // The board of Texas insurer of last resort for wind and hail along the Texas coast voted at its August meeting to raise premium rates beginning in January 2014. The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association board of directors...
Mass. Diocese Agrees to $60M Settlement With Insurer Over 2011 Tornado Damages
Sep 12 2013 // The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield has agreed to a $60 million settlement with its insurer for damage done to a parochial high school and other church property by a tornado two years ago. The resolution with insurer...
Insurance Pros in Politics: Cooley Masters Quake Insurance
Sep 11 2013 // When it comes to mixing insurance and politics, the two might as well be one in the same for California Assemblyman Ken Cooley. Cooley, D-Rancho Cordova, started his career in the 1970s working on earthquake issues with a...
On 9/11 Anniversary, a Call to Renew Federal Terrorism Insurance
Sep 11 2013 // On today’s anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack against the United States, the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) joined with citizens across the country in remembering those whose lives...
Humberto Becomes Season’s First Hurricane; Gabrielle Spares Bermuda
Sep 11 2013 // Hurricane Humberto, the season’s first, churned in the Atlantic west of the Cape Verde Islands as Tropical Storm Gabrielle stalled after passing Bermuda. Humberto was declared a Category 1 storm in a 5 a.m. advisory...
Bermuda Under Tropical Storm Warning for Gabrielle
Sep 10 2013 // Tropical Storm Gabrielle reformed in the Atlantic south of Bermuda, which can expect high winds, rough surf and rain later today, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. Gabrielle was 165 miles (265 kilometers)...
Quiet 2013 Hurricane Season a ‘Head Scratcher’ for Embarrassed Forecasters
Sep 9 2013 // The 2013 Atlantic hurricane season, which forecasters had predicted would be more active than normal, has turned out to be something of a dud so far as an unusual calm hangs over the tropics. As the season heads into the...
Yosemite May Be Harbinger of California’s Wildfire Potential
Sep 9 2013 // The massive wildfire in Yosemite is seen by some as a harbinger of what could be a “worst case scenario” when California enters its typical wildfire season in October — continued drought, lots of unburned...
Hotspot Volcanoes: Earthquake Risk in Hawaii
Sep 9 2013 // It was June 15, 1990, when Mount Pinatubo, on the island of Luzon in the Philippines, awoke from its 500-year slumber to produce the second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century. Nearly a year before, Luzon was...
Arkansas Researchers: Hill Climbing Tornadoes More Dangerous
Sep 9 2013 // New research from the University of Arkansas finds that tornadoes cause greater damage when traveling uphill — and that the twisters tend to climb toward higher elevations rather than going downhill. Engineering...
August’s Natural Disasters Caused $10B in Economic Damage: Aon Benfield
Sep 6 2013 // August saw billion-dollar flood losses in China, Russia, Philippines and Pakistan, bringing an initial combined estimate of $10 billion in economic losses, Aon Benfield said in a report on natural disaster...
