Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
P/C Insurers Post First Half Profit Despite Underwriting Losses
Sep 16 2010 // Private U.S. property/casualty insurers’ net income after taxes rose to $16.5 billion in first-half 2010 from $6 billion in first-half 2009, with insurers’ overall profitability as measured by their annualized...
Hurricane Igor Threatens Bermuda
Sep 16 2010 // Hurricane Igor continues to be a dangerous category four storm, the second most powerful category in the five category Saffir-Simpson scale, and is now predicted to possibly hit Bermuda. Officials in Bermuda reportedly...
Tropical Storm Karl Hits Yucatan, Some Evacuations Ordered
Sep 15 2010 // Tropical Storm Karl hit Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula Wednesday and was expected to head into the Gulf of Mexico, threatening Mexican oil installations and possibly gaining hurricane strength. Mexico’s state-run...
Hurricane Igor Weakened But Still Strong
Sep 15 2010 // Hurricane Igor has weakened a little, but still remains a large and powerful hurricane, the National Hurricane Center reported this morning. The hurricane was about 1,000 miles southeast of Bermuda. It was moving at about...
Colorado Raids Insurance Fund to Fight Second Wildfire
Sep 15 2010 // Colorado is freeing up more money to help pay for fighting the wildfire burning near Loveland, the second major wildfire to hit the state in a week. An executive order issued Sept. 13 provides up to $3 million for the...
RMS Estimates Insured Losses for NZ Quake at $1.5 to $2.5 Billion
Sep 15 2010 // Following detailed analysis of property damage from the Darfield, New Zealand, earthquake, Risk Management Solutions said it “estimates that total insured losses will fall between NZD 2.1 billion (US$ 1.5 billion)...
Ohio Insurance Institute: State’s Insured Losses from Ike – $1.255B
Sep 14 2010 // For some Ohioans, the memory of Hurricane Ike is only surpassed by the damage it caused last Sept. 14 as it made its way across the Buckeye State packing winds at speeds equal to a Category 1 hurricane (up to 74...
Hurricanes Igor, Julia Spin in Atlantic
Sep 14 2010 // Tropical Storm Julia grew in the far eastern Atlantic into the fifth hurricane of the storm season, while Hurricane Igor weakened slightly but remained a dangerous Category 4 storm, forecasters said on Tuesday. Neither...
Hurricane Igor Expected to Intensify
Sep 13 2010 // The strength of Hurricane Igor is likely to flucuate over the next few days as it crosses the Atlantic Ocean, according to the National Hurricane Center. As of 11 a.m. Eastern time on Monday morning, Hurricane Igor was a...
Insurance Claims Pour in from Tropical Storm Hermine
Sep 10 2010 // Like the rainfall that inundated Texas as a result of Tropical Storm Hermine, claims from property damage caused by the storm have been pouring in to insurers, the Insurance Council of Texas has reported. ICT spokesman...
Firefighters Battle ‘Most Destructive Wildfire in Colorado History’
Sep 10 2010 // Approximately 700 firefighters have been battling a wildfire just outside Boulder, Colo., for five days. Meanwhile, Boulder residents are preparing to evacuate any time as the Fourmile Canyon fire spread to within 10 miles...
RMS Analyzes New Zealand Earthquake Insured Losses
Sep 9 2010 // Risk Management Solutions has stated that, based on its analysis of the area exposed to the New Zealand earthquake, it “currently expects that approximately 60-70 percent of the insured loss will be residential, and...
S&P Examines Effects Of Chilean Earthquake on Reinsurers
Sep 9 2010 // A study published by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services – entitled: “Reinsurers Foot The Bill For Chilean Earthquake Losses” – indicates that the global reinsurance industry has...
Businesses Often Consider Weather Before Going to North Carolina
Sep 9 2010 // When hurricanes and tropical storms hit the North Carolina coast, it can give pause to residents and also to those considering moving close to the ocean. But does it do the same thing to businesses? Coastal geography...
Hermine Surprises Texas, Oklahoma with Extensive Flooding
Sep 9 2010 // Tropical Storm Hermine, which swept through Texas on Sept. 7 and into Oklahoma on Sept. 8, surprised forecasters by retaining tropical storm strength long after it was expected to decline. The storm resulted in extensive...
New Zealand Quake Insured Losses between $2 to $4.5 Billion Says AIR
Sep 7 2010 // The magnitude 7.0 earthquake which struck the Southern Island of New Zealand on Saturday, Sept. 4 miraculously caused no fatalities; however it did cause substantial damages. Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide has...
Tropical Storm Hermine Slams into Northeastern Mexico
Sep 7 2010 // Tropical Storm Hermine slammed into northeastern Mexico near the Texas border Monday, dumping heavy rain on a region still recovering from Hurricane Alex’s visit in June. Hermine, the eighth named storm of the...
Tropical Storm Hermine Brings Heavy Rains, Wind to South Texas
Sep 7 2010 // Tropical Storm Hermine blew into the border region between Texas and Mexico late Monday night, landing in Northeast Mexico and crossing into Texas early Tuesday morning, bringing with it 60 mph winds, heavy rains and...
Mississippi Building Hurricane-Proof Community
Sep 6 2010 // A community of hurricane-resistant homes is being built in Gulfport, Mississippi. The modular concrete homes will be built by Royal Concrete Concepts in Okeechobee, Fla., and sold through the company’s Mississippi...
Gulf States’ Post-Katrina Building Codes Get Low Marks
Sep 6 2010 // Louisiana has done a good job upgrading its building codes in the five years since Hurricane Katrina, but Alabama and Mississippi have not, according to the Institute for Business and Home Safety. “While there have...
