Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Homeowners Seek $90M for Massachusetts Tornado Damage
Jun 9 2011 // Homeowners in western Massachusetts have filed $90 million in insurance claims for damage caused by deadly tornadoes that ravaged Springfield and several smaller communities last week, state officials said Tuesday. The...
Active Hurricane Season Ups Risk for Mid-Atlantic
Jun 9 2011 // As weather forecasters predict an above-normal number of hurricanes this season, chances also increase that one of the storms will hit the mid-Atlantic states. The News Journal of Wilmington (Delaware) reports that the...
Adrian is First Hurricane of 2011 Pacific Season
Jun 9 2011 // Tropical Storm Adrian strengthened to a hurricane off Mexico’s Pacific coast, becoming the first hurricane of the 2011 Pacific season, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Mexico’s government issued a storm...
Missouri: 17,000 Insurance Claims Filed So Far From Joplin Tornado
Jun 8 2011 // The major insurance companies serving consumers in the Joplin area have received nearly 17,000 claims so far from residents and business owners with damage from the EF-5 tornado that struck the area on May 22, insurance...
New Aon Terrorist Risk Map Includes Mideast, No. Africa Unrest
Jun 8 2011 // Aon’s annual publication of its Terrorist Risk Map has been expanded. Aon said this year’s version features areas where “political violence, strikes, riots, civil war and war threaten the sustainable...
Texas Windstorm Insurance Issue Added to Special Session
Jun 7 2011 // Texas Gov. Rick Perry has added legislation relating to the operation of the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association as an issue to be addressed during the special session of the Legislature that began on May 31. “It...
Marsh Launches Index-Based Insurance Option for Earthquake, Windstorm Risks
Jun 7 2011 // Marsh now offers an option for organizations with significant earthquake and/or windstorm exposures that are unable to purchase enough insurance to adequately protect their assets. The new program is called Country...
Will New Legislation Help Florida’s Property Insurance Market?
Jun 7 2011 // Florida hasn’t been hit by a hurricane since the disastrous years of 2004 and 2005, but the state’s property insurance companies say they are still losing money despite collecting billions in premiums. That has...
Florida Commission Approves RMS Hurricane Model
Jun 7 2011 // Florida’s residential property insurance market is bracing for even more volatility after the state’s modeling commission approved the use of the new Risk Management Services (RMS) catastrophe model. The...
Late May Storms to Cost Insurers Up to $7 Billion: AIR
Jun 6 2011 // The severe thunderstorms that struck the United States from May 20 to the 27 will result in insured losses to residential, commercial, and industrial properties and their contents, and to automobiles of between $4 billion...
Missouri Capital City Looking to Upgrade Tornado Sirens
Jun 6 2011 // Officials in Missouri’s capital city have decided to look into improving its aging storm warning system, after a deadly tornado hit the state’s southwest. Two of Jefferson City’s 15 warning sirens...
3,500 People Evacuate as Volcano Erupts in Southern Chile
Jun 6 2011 // One of the volcanoes in the Caulle Cordon of southern Chile erupted violently Saturday, billowing smoke and ash high into the sky and prompting more than 3,500 people living nearby to evacuate. There were no reports of...
Risky Decisions
Jun 6 2011 // The percentage of homes covered by typical residential property policies varies by region. All the devastation from natural disasters that have occurred across the nation in recent months illuminates the fact that many,...
Hurricane Season Could Bring Rate Relief
Jun 6 2011 // Property and casualty insurers craving respite from a long-running drop in prices eyed the start of the U.S. hurricane season on June 1 in the hope that summer windstorms will finally turn the market. The June 1 to Nov. 30...
Catastrophes Issue Wake-Up Call on Supply Chain Risks
Jun 6 2011 // The Japanese earthquake and tsunami that occurred in March 2011 served as a wake-up call of sorts for businesses vulnerable to supply chain exposures. Subsequent intense weather events in the United States during April and...
Demise of Windstorm Association Overhaul Leads to Special Session in Texas
Jun 6 2011 // Texas lawmakers were unable to come to terms on an overhaul of the state-backed insurer for property along the Texas coast, so they’ll return to Austin in July to try again. Their failure to deal with school finance,...
Catastrophes Issue Wake-Up Call on Supply Chain Risks
Jun 6 2011 // The Japanese earthquake and tsunami that occurred in March 2011, as well as intense spring weather, served as a wakeup call of sorts for businesses vulnerable to supply chain exposures: It’s important to prepare for...
Tornado-Hit States Rank High in Uninsured
Jun 6 2011 // Many of the states hammered by what’s already the deadliest year for tornadoes in more than half a century have among the nation’s highest rates of homes without hazard insurance despite being among the most...
Declarations
Jun 6 2011 // A Bomb on Every Floor “It truly was like a bomb went off almost on every floor.” —Gary Pulsipher, chief executive at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo., describes the damage caused to the...
What’s In Florida’s Property Insurance Cost Control Bill?
Jun 6 2011 // Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed into law legislation that promises to lower costs for the state’s property insurers, including what they pay on sinkhole claims. Scott said the bill (SB 408) “strengthens...
