Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida Gov. Scott Signs Property Insurance Cost Control Bill
May 17 2011 // Florida Gov. Rick Scott has signed into law legislation that promises to lower costs for the state’s property insurers, including what they pay on sinkhole claims. While the memory of former Governor Charles...
Verisk Catastrophe Index Now Covers U.S. Earthquake Risk
May 17 2011 // The Verisk Catastrophe Index has been expanded beyond the hurricane peril to also cover U.S. earthquake risk, including fire following earthquake. The index provides industry-wide insured property loss estimates by county...
Best Sees ‘Growing Pressure’ for Higher P/C Insurance Rates
May 17 2011 // There is “growing pressure” to support increased rates in property/casualty insurance and reinsurance markets, rating agency A.M. Best has concluded in its most recent market analysis. As a consequence, Best...
P/C Insurers Take Hit in Q1 as Hurricane Season Approaches
May 16 2011 // The U.S. property/casualty (P/C) industry took a beating from record first quarter 2011 catastrophe losses, and recent earnings announcements from global reinsurers illustrate the damage those losses did to earnings and...
Cat Bond Investors Not Scared Off by Japan Quake
May 16 2011 // The catastrophe bond market seems to have survived the Japanese earthquake, its biggest test since the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, with investors still likely to consider the sector despite millions of dollars of...
Catlin’s Q1 Interim Statement Highlights 11% Rise in GPW
May 16 2011 // The Bermuda-based Catlin Group’s interim statement for the first quarter of 2011, highlights a substantial 11 percent increase in gross premiums written to $$1.412 billion from $1.272 billion in Q1 2010. Net premiums...
Report: Hurricanes Pose Risk to 1.8M Coastal Homes
May 16 2011 // More than 1.8 million homes along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts are at great risk of being damaged by a hurricane, three times the number located in federally defined flood zones, according to a recently released...
Report: Hurricanes Pose Risk to 1.8M Costal Homes
May 16 2011 // More than 1.8 million homes along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts are at great risk of being damaged by a hurricane, three times the number located in federally defined flood zones, according to a report released Tuesday. The...
Risky Business: Insurance Industry Entering ‘New Era’ of Catastrophes
May 16 2011 // Given the recent flooding, hurricanes and earthquakes, it appears the number of catastrophic events that inflict mass casualties and severe economic losses has increased – so much so that Dr. Erwann Michel-Kerjan,...
Storms That Shatter Lives Hold Lessons for Insurers
May 16 2011 // It used to be the low-frequency, high-severity events that kept U.S. property insurance producers, carriers, and reinsurers up at night. These big Cats have become part of our collective history – Hurricanes Andrew,...
Business Losses Due to ‘Action’ by Civil Authorities: When Is There Coverage?
May 16 2011 // Virtually all insurance policies contain provisions and exclusions dealing with events that most insureds consider so remote and unlikely that they rarely give any thought to their possible occurrence, much less what...
How to Prevent E&O Lawsuits for Black Swan Risks
May 16 2011 // The timeless maxim- “think globally, act locally” – coined in 1915 by social activist Patrick Geddes, underscores the vital importance for insurance agents to really think through the scope of their...
EQECAT Estimates Spain Quake Insured Losses at Maximum $100 Million
May 13 2011 // Catastrophe modeling firm EQECAT has released a “CatWatch update” on the market loss estimate for the May 11 earthquake near Lorca, Spain, which indicates that, based on the latest information available,...
Lloyd’s Estimates Losses from Q1 Disasters at $3.8 Billion
May 13 2011 // After careful calculation Lloyd’s has announced its estimated net claims before tax from the earthquakes this year in Japan and New Zealand and the January 2011 floods in Australia. The current net estimates were...
Business Losses Due to Civil Authority Action: When Is There Coverage?
May 12 2011 // Virtually all insurance policies contain provisions and exclusions dealing with events that most insureds consider so remote and unlikely that they rarely give any thought to their possible occurrence, much less what...
Arkansas Tornado Count Already Twice That of Typical Year
May 12 2011 // Arkansas has seen 59 tornadoes so far this year, a number more than twice what the state sees in a typical year. There also have been 22 weather-related deaths. The warning coordination meteorologist at the National...
Allstate Reports $1.4 Billion in April Storm Losses
May 12 2011 // The Allstate Corp. today announced $1.4 billion in estimated catastrophe losses for the month of April. The estimated April catastrophe losses total about $1.37 billion for the Allstate brand and about $30 million for...
April Tornadoes Likely to be Alabama’s Costliest Ever Disaster
May 12 2011 // The April 27 tornado outbreak will likely end up being Alabama’s most costly natural disaster. Gov. Robert Bentley and state Insurance Commissioner Jim Ridling said the catastrophe modeling company AIR Worldwide...
Earthquakes Hit Southern Spain; At Least 8 Dead
May 12 2011 // Two earthquakes, the first measured at magnitude 4.4, and the second a much stronger tremor measured at magnitude 5.2, struck Southern Spain near the city of Lorca late Wednesday afternoon at 6:47 PM, local time. At least...
Distant Earthquakes Can Affect San Andreas Fault
May 11 2011 // Researchers examining the San Andreas Fault in central California have found evidence that distant earthquakes can trigger episodes of accelerated — but still very slow — slip motion, deep on the fault. While a...
