Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Tornado Chasers Prepare for High Season
Feb 24 2012 // With the month of March looming, United States tornado chasers are already watching the Southeast as a nasty storm brews with the potential to spin off a batch of tornadoes. But if funnel clouds develop Thursday or Friday...
Texas Regulators Looking at Ways to Restructure Windstorm Pool
Feb 23 2012 // Texas insurance regulators are seeking a consultant to explore options for restructuring the insurer of last resort for properties along the Texas coast. The Texas Department of Insurance has issued a request for proposal...
4.0 Earthquake in Missouri Shakes 9 States
Feb 23 2012 // Just days after the 200th anniversary of a series of massive earthquakes in southeast Missouri, residents woke up on Feb. 21 to a rumbling reminder that they live in one of the continent’s most active seismic...
2011 an Exceptional Year for Tornadoes
Feb 23 2012 // While 2011 marked the fourth deadliest year on record for tornadoes in the United States, Texas was spared tornado-related fatalities and recorded fewer-than-average number of such storms. Not so Alabama, which led all...
California Earthquake Authority Kicks off Second Marketing Program for Agents
Feb 21 2012 // The business of selling earthquake insurance to homeowners may have just gotten a bit easier. The California Earthquake Authority has launched its annual “Marketing Value Program,” in which the quasi-private...
U.S. Should Expect Another Above-Normal Tornado Season in 2012
Feb 21 2012 // The U.S. should expect an active severe weather season with above-normal tornadoes in 2012. That’s after a near-record number of tornadoes in 2011, according to forecasters at AccuWeather.com in State College,...
Florida Lawmakers Still Balk at Raising Homeowners’ Premiums for Cat Fund
Feb 21 2012 // State lawmakers have gambled with their constituents’ money for years when it comes to dealing with Florida’s property insurance issues. But now, many top industry analysts suggest, the odds may be turning...
Earthquake Simulator to Be Built at University of Alabama
Feb 21 2012 // There aren’t very many rooms in the world that can successfully reproduce the devastating effects of an earthquake. But come May 1, a laboratory on the University of Alabama campus may be able to do just that. Work...
Q4 Reports: Earnings Continue to Disappoint
Feb 20 2012 // The Hartford Q4 Profit Down 79% Hartford Financial Services Group reported $127 million for its 2011 fourth-quarter net income, down 79 percent from one year ago. Results were dragged down by higher net capital losses and...
Utah Offers New Earthquake Hazard Maps
Feb 20 2012 // Utah is selling new maps that show the shaking intensity of earthquakes for the west half of Salt Lake County. The set of 10 maps also spotlights the risks of landslides, rock falls, floods, radon gas and other hazards in...
Washington Tribe OK’d to Move Out Of Tsunami Zone
Feb 20 2012 // The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a bill that will allow the Quileute tribe to move its school and other buildings out of a tsunami zone on the Washington coast to higher ground in Olympic National Park. The...
AIR Analyzes Increased Japan Risk after Tohoku-Oki Earthquake
Feb 17 2012 // Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide has released a new report – “Understanding Earthquake Risk in Japan Following the Tohoku-Oki Earthquake of March 11, 2011.” The report stresses that the “M9.0...
P/C Industry Disputes Consumer Group’s Claims It’s Avoiding Risk
Feb 17 2012 // Traditionally risk-takers, property/casualty insurance companies have become more like risk-avoiders when it comes to weather-related claims, leaving consumers and taxpayers to pay much higher costs, according to a new...
4 Executives Found Not Guilty in Florida Hurricane Fund Fraud Case
Feb 17 2012 // Four insurance executives of a now defunct Florida property insurer have been found not guilty of defrauding the state’s reinsurance facility of over $20 million in a case stemming from hurricane losses dating back...
California Earthquake Authority to Pay Back Wages
Feb 16 2012 // The California Earthquake Authority, the state’s quasi-private earthquake insurer, is planning to pay furlough back wages to current and former agency employees who lost salary to the policy, the Sacramento Bee is...
Japan Nuclear Plant Planned Review of Tsunami Risk- But Too Late
Feb 16 2012 // Four days before a tsunami devastated a Japanese nuclear plant, its operator promised a fuller assessment of the risk of such a disaster — but not for seven months. The disclosure in a three-page briefing paper obtained...
Europe’s Big Insurers Hit by Debt Crisis, Catastrophes, Economy
Feb 16 2012 // European insurers Axa and Zurich Financial suffered on all sides last year as Europe’s debt crisis ate into their sovereign bond holdings, catastrophe claims emptied coffers and the downturn cut demand for life...
PERILS Estimates Windstorm Andrea Property Losses at $350 Million
Feb 15 2012 // According to PERILS, the Zurich-based catastrophe data provider, initial loss estimates for property losses caused by windstorm Andrea, which struck Western Europe at the beginning of January, are €267 million [$350...
In Joplin, Missouri, Young Professionals Hear Call to Serve
Feb 15 2012 // One worked in financial services. Another was an insurance agent. A third had recently finished law school and embarked on a legal career. Then came the tornado. The twister that blasted an immense hole in this Missouri...
Pitney Bowes Develops Wildfire Risk Software
Feb 15 2012 // Pitney Bowes Software has released the Pitney Bowes Risk Data Suite Software Bundle for property and casualty insurers. The company says this is the first national wildfire software product for the insurance sector. It...
