Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Can Federal Flood Insurance Handle Irene Losses?
Aug 31 2011 // The only thing worse than getting flooded out of your home once is getting flooded out of it twice. Or, for that matter, over and over again. Margaret Wert bought her Wayne, New Jersey house in 1999, relying on assurances...
Swiss Re Sigma Study Examines Government/Private Sector Coverage
Aug 31 2011 // Swiss Re’s latest sigma study – “State involvement in private insurance” – examines the increasing symbiosis between governments and the private insurance sector. The report notes that...
Moody’s Sees Stable Outlook for Personal Lines Insurers
Aug 30 2011 // The personal lines insurance sector maintains a stable outlook in the face of a highly competitive environment, 2011 catastrophe losses and sluggish economic conditions, according to a report from Moody’s Investors...
Oregon Wildfires Threaten Homes
Aug 30 2011 // Weather conditions improved for firefighters trying to contain a 45,000-acre grass fire in central Oregon, after red flag warnings expired. A dispatcher at the Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch Center in Prineville said...
Typhoon Nanmadol Departs Taiwan, Heads for China
Aug 30 2011 // Typhoon Nanmadol headed to southeastern China on Monday after dumping more than 20 inches (half a meter) of rain in southern Taiwan, where wide swaths of agricultural land were flooded and some 8,000 people evacuated. The...
Tropical Storm Katia Forms in Eastern Atlantic
Aug 30 2011 // The Miami-based National Hurricane Center is currently tracking Tropical Storm Katia, which formed earlier today out of tropical depression 12. The latest tropical storm of the already busy hurricane season is...
Pacific Coast Towns Rethink Tsunami ‘Vertical’ Evacuation Options
Aug 29 2011 // When the next devastating earthquake strikes off the Northwest coast, it is expected to send a tsunami so fast that it could leave coastal communities with perhaps 20 minutes to escape the surge of water. For small towns...
Colorado Says It Has No Funds to Aid Earthquake Victims
Aug 29 2011 // Colorado officials say they have no money to help earthquake victims in southern Colorado. Department of Local Affairs spokeswoman Linda Rice said the state is providing technical assistance, including geological analysis,...
P/C Industry ‘Adequately Capitalized’ Says Best, Despite Irene Losses
Aug 29 2011 // A.M. Best has begun an assessment of the potential financial impact Hurricane Irene’s passage through the Caribbean and up the East coast of the U.S. might have on the property/casualty industry in the U.S.,...
AIR Estimates Irene Insured Caribbean Losses at $500 Million to $1.1 Billion
Aug 29 2011 // AIR Worldwide has estimated that insured losses in the Caribbean from Hurricane Irene will be between $500 million and $1.1 billion. AIR said it “expects the Bahamas will account for more than 60 percent of the...
8 Dead as Typhoon Nanmadol Slams Northern Philippines
Aug 29 2011 // Slow-moving Typhoon Nanmadol remained dangerous Sunday despite weakening as it struck the tip of the mountainous northern Philippines, leaving at least eight people dead and scuttling a visit by a U.S. Navy battleship...
Irene Floods Northeast; Manhattan Spared Worst
Aug 29 2011 // Hurricane Irene swept through Manhattan Sunday but reserved the worst of its fury for towns and suburbs up and down the northeastern United States, where driving rain and flood tides inundated homes and cut power to...
Earthquake Showed Difficulties of Evacuating D.C.
Aug 29 2011 // The nation’s capital has prepared for emergencies with sleek communication systems, intelligence fusion centers and chemical detention centers at train stations. What showed during the 5.8-magnitude quake that shook...
Investors Placed Their Bets On Hurricane Irene
Aug 28 2011 // While people in New York and the rest of the U.S. East Coast on Friday were buying batteries and water ahead of Hurricane Irene, some investors were more focused on placing their bets just in case this really is “the...
Insured Losses from Hurricane Irene in Carolinas Could Reach $400 Million
Aug 28 2011 // Hurricane Irene caused between $200 million and $400 million in insured losses in the Carolinas, catastrophe modeling company Eqecat said on Sunday. At 7:30 a.m. ET Saturday, Aug. 27, Irene made its first landfall just...
Insurance Industry Mobilizes for Hurricane Irene Claims
Aug 26 2011 // In addition to advising their policyholders on what to do to protect against Hurricane Irene, property/casualty insurers and brokers are themselves taking precautions—and positioning their claims teams for the...
Hurricane Irene Update: 50 Million People Could Be Affected
Aug 26 2011 // Parts of the southeastern United States were already experiencing dangerous swells and rip tides Thursday as Hurricane Irene exited the Bahamas. On Friday afternoon, ahead of Hurricane Irene’s forecasted arrival in...
Is ‘Old’ East Coast Prepared For a Powerful Earthquake?
Aug 26 2011 // There was a crack in the Washington Monument, and capstones were broken at the National Cathedral. In the District of Columbia suburbs, some people stayed in shelters because of structural concerns at their apartment...
Northeast Likely to Suffer Significant Damage from Irene
Aug 26 2011 // Hurricane Irene is likely to cause more insured losses in the Bahamas than 1999’s devastating Hurricane Floyd, catastrophe modeler AIR Worldwide said Thursday, even as the storm increasingly tracks toward a weekend...
East Coast Cities, Resorts Prepare for Irene
Aug 26 2011 // North Carolina braced Friday for a direct hit from Hurricane Irene, cities along the U.S. east coast were on alert and millions of beach goers cut short vacations to escape the powerful storm. With more than 50 million...
