Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Feds: Another Tough Wildfire Season For West
May 14 2013 // Fire officials are poised for a tough wildfire season after another dry winter across much of the West, and made more challenging because federal budget cuts mean fewer firefighters on the ground, Interior Secretary Sally...
Georgia Regulator to Host Hurricane Preparedness Expo on June 15
May 14 2013 // The hurricane season is almost here and Georgia Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens is inviting the public to attend the 12th Annual Hurricane Preparedness Expo on June 15.Photo credit: Georgia Office of Insurance and...
Business Frets at Terrorism Tag of Marathon Attack
May 13 2013 // President Barack Obama’s declaration that the Boston Marathon bombings were an act of terrorism could make it difficult for many affected businesses to be reimbursed for losses resulting from the explosions. Federal...
Hail Storm Damage to Mississippi Government Property Estimated at $25 Million
May 10 2013 // The Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers Training Academy in Pearl isn’t the most aesthetically appealing place to train officers these days, its director, Pat Cronin, concedes. The March 18 hailstorms that struck...
TRIA Debate Heats Up with Charge ‘Nervous Nelly’ P/C Insurers Enjoy $7B ‘Subsidy’
May 9 2013 // A consumer advocacy group says the property/casualty insurance industry has been getting a sweet deal worth about $7 billion as a result of the federal government’s program to help pay terrorism insurance claims...
Hurricane Center Working to Improve Storm Surge Forecasts After Wet 2012
May 9 2013 // Last year’s hurricane season drove home some big lessons, according to the nation’s chief hurricane forecaster: Storm surge and flooding are dangerous and difficult to predict, and sometimes it’s even...
April Brought Fewer Tornadoes But Severe Hail, Floods to U.S.: Aon
May 8 2013 // Parts of the U.S. suffered severe hail and flooding damage during April, although there were fewer tornadoes than expected. Impact Forecasting, the catastrophe model center at Aon Benfield, released its monthly Global...
Medical Malpractice Payouts Not Driving Up Health Costs: Study
May 8 2013 // Efforts to lower health care costs in the United States have focused at times on demands to reform the medical malpractice system, with some researchers asserting that large, headline-grabbing and “frivolous”...
Ongoing Dry Weather Raising New York Wildfire Danger
May 7 2013 // New York conservation officials say continuing dry weather has raised the danger of wildfires, advising rural and suburban residents that all residential brush burning is prohibited during the usually high fire risk period...
PERILS Expands Estimates to Include Earthquake, Flood in Italy
May 7 2013 // PERILS, the independent Zurich-based organization providing industry-wide catastrophe insurance data, has extended its market coverage to include Italy, and will provide data for both earthquake and flood perils with...
California Wildfire Appears Accidental, Drizzle Aids Firefighters
May 6 2013 // Investigators have ruled out arson as the cause of a huge Southern California wildfire that was 75 percent contained Sunday after burning through coastal mountains and threatening thousands of homes. Continuing cool, moist...
New York Mountain Town Awaits Hurricane Relief, 20 Months Later
May 6 2013 // Rebecca Hoskins poked through the debris in her flood-wrecked house: a TV here, a light fixture there. Someone had been in and taken down the curtains. She blinked back a tear. It was a crisp early spring day and her first...
Experts Weigh Boston Bombings’ Impact on TRIA Debate
May 6 2013 // The April 15 Boston bombings could have an impact on the efforts to renew the federal government’s terrorism insurance backstop. Some experts say the Boston Marathon tragedy could help the cause of supporters of the...
RIMS Conference in LA Risks No Loss of Subject Matter
May 6 2013 // Renewal of the Terrorism and Risk Insurance Act was a much talked about topic at the annual Risk and Insurance Management Society conference, a four-day event in Los Angeles, Calif. in late April that included panels...
Time to Press Again for Terrorism Risk Insurance Act Reauthorization
May 6 2013 // Congress faces a packed agenda this year. Deficit reduction, immigration reform and gun control will dominate the agenda. But another issue must be added to the docket — reauthorization of the Terrorism Risk Insurance...
U.S. P/C Industry Posts $33.5B 2012 Income Despite Huge Catastrophe Losses of $32B
May 6 2013 // U.S. property/casualty insurers absorbed net insured catastrophe losses of more than $32 billion last year, but still managed to post $33.5 billion in net income in the aggregate — in part because catastrophe losses were...
Southern California Wildfire Causes Homes To Be Evacuated
May 3 2013 // A Southern California wildfire grew to more than 15 square miles and firefighting crews prepared Friday for another bad day of gusting winds and searing weather. The fire erupted Thursday in the Camarillo area, damaging 15...
XL Group Reports $350.8 Million Q1 Net Income; P&C Combined Ratio 87.7%
May 3 2013 // CEO Mike McGavick seemed quite pleased with XL’s results for, the first quarter of 2013. “XL once again delivered solid results — the kind of results we seek to routinely produce,” he wrote in the...
RenaissanceRe Posts $190.5 Million Q1 Net Income; 36.2% Combined Ratio
May 3 2013 // Bermuda-based RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. reported net income available to common shareholders of $190.5 million or $4.23 per diluted common share in the first quarter of 2013, compared to $201.4 million or $3.88 per...
SNL Report: Cat Bond Market Continues to Progress
May 3 2013 // A report from SNL Financial cites the recent activity in the insurance linked securities (ILS), or “Cat Bond” market is continuing to be an attractive alternative for insurers. SNL’s report notes that...
