Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
The Hartford’s Q3 Profit Soars; CEO Calls Hurricane Sandy ‘Manageable Exposure’
Nov 2 2012 // The Hartford Financial Services Group reported $401 million profit for its third quarter, up from $60 million profit posted during the same period one year ago. CEO Liam McGee said the Hartford generated strong...
Is Global Warming to Blame for Superstorm? Scientists Weigh In
Nov 2 2012 // Climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer stood along the Hudson River and watched his research come to life as Hurricane Sandy blew through New York. Just eight months earlier, the Princeton University professor reported that...
Controversy Over Hurricane Deductibles May Just Be Beginning
Nov 2 2012 // When the National Hurricane Center declared Sandy a “post-tropical storm” just before it made landfall, a lot of homeowners across New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Maryland may have saved a lot of money....
Hurricane Sandy Takes Toll on New York’s Small Shops, Restaurants
Nov 2 2012 // Pumping water out of basements and yanking rotten food out of refrigerators, shop and restaurant owners said on Thursday they wonder when the power will come back and, more importantly, how they will possibly recover from...
Scope of Hurricane Sandy Widens, Death Toll Rises
Nov 2 2012 // From New York City’s Staten Island to the popular beach towns of the Jersey Shore, rescuers and officials on Friday faced growing evidence of widespread destruction wrought by superstorm Sandy, mounting anger over...
Falling Trees: Act of God or Covered Event?
Nov 2 2012 // Although not nearly on the scale of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, Hurricane Isaac caused a surprising amount of damage in Louisiana despite the fact that it was only a category 1 hurricane, the weakest category by...
N.Y. Gov. Cuomo: New Yorkers Won’t Have to Pay Hurricane Deductible for Sandy
Nov 1 2012 // New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that New York homeowners will not have to pay potentially large hurricane deductibles on insurance claims stemming from damage caused by Sandy. New York joins other...
Flood Insurance Still Relatively Rare in Northeast
Oct 31 2012 // Many homeowners who suffered losses because of flooding from Hurricane Sandy are likely to find themselves out of luck. Standard homeowners policies don’t cover flooding damage, and the vast majority of homeowners...
No Hurricane Deductibles for Sandy Claims in New Jersey, Maryland
Oct 31 2012 // Hurricane deductibles will not be applicable for Sandy-related claims in New Jersey, the state where the superstorm made landfall late Monday. New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance Acting Commissioner Ken...
Hurricane Sandy Losses Should Not Affect Most Insurer Ratings or Premiums: S&P
Oct 31 2012 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said it expects Hurricane Sandy to have only limited impact on the ratings on U.S. property/casualty insurers, global reinsurers, and certain catastrophe bonds. Although it...
Hurricane Deductibles Will Not Apply for Sandy-Related Claims in Conn.
Oct 31 2012 // The Connecticut insurance department issued a notice to the insurance industry Tuesday, alerting the industry that companies may not impose a hurricane deductible on Connecticut claims related to superstorm...
Canada’s Manulife Says Reinsurace Exposure to Hurricane Sandy ‘Manageable’
Oct 31 2012 // Toronto-based Manulife Financial, one of North America’s largest insurers, said its exposure to Hurricane Sandy was manageable and within its risk tolerance. The company, based in Toronto, is primarily a life...
Hurricane Sandy Silences Atlantic City’s Casinos
Oct 31 2012 // Hurricane Sandy has silenced the thousands of slot machines and high-rollers who normally crowd the black jack and roulette tables of Atlantic City, but the resort’s casino companies wager they could be back in...
Insured Losses From Hurricane Sandy $7-$15 Billion: AIR Worldwide
Oct 31 2012 // Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide estimated Tuesday evening that insured losses from Hurricane Sandy to onshore properties in the U.S. would be in the range of $7 billion to $15 billion. AIR’s insured loss...
Native Seed Shortage Hampers Nevada, Utah Wildfire Recovery
Oct 30 2012 // High demand for native plant seeds in Nevada and Utah is pushing up the price and leaving short supplies following an extreme wildfire year that burned millions of acres nationally. In the Great Basin of Nevada and Utah,...
Sandy Dominates Southern California PCI Conference
Oct 30 2012 // The subject of Hurricane Sandy dominated a conference of insurance professionals in Southern California on Tuesday – it was heavily used in speeches, a constant topic on panels and it even made its way into meeting...
Hurricane Sandy Unlikely to Trigger Payouts from Catastrophe Bonds
Oct 30 2012 // Investors who have put their money into specialist financial bonds which cover insurance companies from huge natural disasters are unlikely to be hit with big losses from monster storm Sandy even though it is one of the...
Hurricane Sandy Losses Expected to Top Irene’s
Oct 30 2012 // Hurricane Sandy appears to have easily caused more losses than last year’s Hurricane Irene, but final totals will be hard to come by for some time because of the scale of the disaster, catastrophe forecasting...
P/C Insurers Can Handle Sandy Losses; Flood Program to Bear Brunt
Oct 30 2012 // Ratings analysts at A.M. Best Co. said that it is likely that the brunt of Hurricane Sandy’s financial impact will fall on the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which is responsible for almost all flood...
Hurricane Sandy Delivers Severe But Short-Term Economic Blow: Economists
Oct 30 2012 // Hurricane Sandy is shaping up to be one of the biggest storms ever to hit the United States but even with the severe damage that is expected, the blow to the economy is seen as short-term. Economists say some of the impact...
