Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Typhoon Jelawat Hits Okinawa; Moves on Tokyo: AIR Analysis
Oct 1 2012 // Typhoon Jelawat remains a powerful storm, even if its wind speed has decreased from around from 155 mph, 250km/h, it passed over Okinawa on Saturday with wind speeds over 90 mph, 144 km/h, causing extensive damage, and...
Tornado Hits Fair in Spain; Flood Deaths Reach 10
Oct 1 2012 // A tornado swept through a fairground in a Spanish town, knocking down a Ferris wheel and injuring 35 people, while the death toll from flooding in the same southern region of the country rose to 10, authorities said...
Louisiana Seeks to Use Hurricane Recovery Money for Pre-K Program
Sep 28 2012 // Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration wants to shift $20 million in hurricane recovery dollars for hurricanes Gustav and Ike to fill in budget gaps in the state’s free preschool program for at-risk students. The...
CDI Settles Enforcement Action Over Wildfire Claims
Sep 26 2012 // The California Department of Insurance has settled with the New Hampshire Insurance Company and its authorized agent York Risk Services Group Inc. for claims processing. The $285,000 settlement is a result of New Hampshire...
Homeowners Insurance Claims Cost Rising Rapidly: Study
Sep 26 2012 // The cost of homeowners insurance claims has been rising rapidly because of the combined effects of rising claim severity and increases in claim frequency, according to an insurance industry report. A new Insurance Research...
Super Typhoon Jelawat Roils the Pacific; No Present Threat to Land
Sep 26 2012 // Super typhoon Jelawat, or “sty 18w,” packing winds of 135 knots (155 mph – 250km/h) is currently located around 414 miles, 662 km, east-northeast of Manila, Philippines, according to the Pacific Joint Typhoon...
SoCal Fire is Reminder Worst Could be Ahead
Sep 25 2012 // A 4-square-mile wildfire in a rural San Diego County community has destroyed roughly a dozen homes and has left one man dead, a sober reminder the state has a large number of high risk homes and that Southern...
Monsoon Ends After Dismal Rain Year For N.M.
Sep 25 2012 // New Mexico’s summer monsoon season began with promise but has now ended with disappointing amounts of rainfall across much of the state. National Weather Service meteorologist Jason Frazier told the Santa Fe New...
2012 Hurricane Season Active at Halfway Point
Sep 24 2012 // At its midpoint, the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season has seen 14 tropical storms, with seven strengthening to hurricane status. According to catastrophe modeling firm Risk Management Solutions (RMS), the current hurricane...
Isaac Losses Won’t Strongly Impact P/C Industry in Louisiana
Sep 24 2012 // While insured losses in the United States from Hurricane Isaac likely will fall between $1 billion and $2 billion, according to some risk management experts, the storm’s impact will not severely impact the...
Report: Wildfires Pose Risk to Three Quarter-Million Western U.S. Homes
Sep 24 2012 // More than three-quarters of a million homes in the Western U.S. have a high risk of wildfire damage, according to a report released by Santa Ana, Calif.-based CoreLogic. CoreLogic’s Wildfire Hazard Risk Report...
Chartis Private Client Group Expands, Enhances Wildfire Protection Unit
Sep 21 2012 // Chartis has enhanced its Private Client Group’s Wildfire Protection Unit with geographic expansion and improved monitoring technologies. The unit now is available to clients in additional areas of Colorado. The...
Report Points to Insurance Industry’s Vulnerability to Climate Change
Sep 20 2012 // A report out Thursday urges the insurance industry to act to protect itself and the community against the increasing frequency of extreme weather due to climate change. In short, the report, its authors and those endorsing...
Oklahoma Prosecutor: Charges Expected In Creek Co. Wildfire
Sep 20 2012 // An assistant Creek County, Oklahoma, district attorney says charges are expected soon in connection with an August wildfire that burned about 90 square miles. Mike Loeffler told the Tulsa World that he expects charges this...
Study: More Than 2 Million California Homes Exposed To High Wildfire Danger
Sep 19 2012 // More than 2 million homes in California face “extreme wildfire hazards,” over 400,000 of which are in Los Angeles County, according to a study issued Wednesday by an insurance industry group. A study by the...
Hurricane Isaac Washed Away Alabama’s Sand Island
Sep 18 2012 // Sand Island along the Alabama coast has disappeared beneath the waves. The Sand Island Lighthouse is still standing alone in the water. But the island that was rebuilt by the U.S Army Corps of Engineers last year got...
Typhoon Sanba Makes Landfall in South Korea: AIR Analysis
Sep 18 2012 // According to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide, Typhoon Sanba made landfall on September 17 just before noon local time (3:00 UTC) in South Gyeongsang Province on the southern coast of South Korea. Maximum sustained...
Capital Markets: A Threat or a Complement for Reinsurers?
Sep 18 2012 // Investments from the capital markets in various forms now provide around 14 percent of the total capital dedicated to providing reinsurance – approximately $35 billion [$17 billion in cat bonds] out of $250 billion. The...
Cat Models – More Accurate, More Sophisticated and More Useful
Sep 17 2012 // Catastrophe models have become such an indispensable tool for re/insurers, particularly those who write P&C catastrophe coverage, that it’s hard to believe the service is only 25 years old. It was launched in...
Isaac Losses Won’t Strongly Impact P/C Industry in Louisiana
Sep 14 2012 // While insured losses in the United States from Hurricane Isaac likely will fall between $1 billion and $2 billion, according to some risk management experts, the storm’s impact will not severely impact the...
