Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Is Economic Terrorism a Threat to Southeast Asia?
Sep 24 2009 // If the suicide bombers who targeted two luxury hotels in Jakarta this year hoped their attacks would strike a significant long-term blow against Indonesia’s economy, the reaction of financial markets suggests they...
Fugate Brings Florida Ideas to FEMA
Sep 24 2009 // Craig Fugate brought three lessons with him when he took over the Federal Emergency Management Agency: Always be ready for disasters, make sure people take responsibility for themselves and get the message out...
Newest Florida Carrier, Prepared Insurance, Targets ‘Older’ Homes
Sep 23 2009 // Florida has given the go-ahead to a new homeowners insurance company that plans to focus on what it says is the underserved market of homes built before 2002. Prepared Insurance Co., headquartered in Tampa, intends to use...
10 Years Ago, Hurricane Floyd Brought Flooding, Evacuations to Carolinas
Sep 22 2009 // In the dark of night on Sept. 15, 1999, Kelly Andreucci stood on the front porch of his childhood home along Godfrey Avenue and worried about the rain drenching his neighborhood. That night, Hurricane Floyd skirted the...
Hurricane Hugo Today Would Cause $20 Billion in Damage in South Carolina
Sep 22 2009 // Hurricane Hugo was the most costly hurricane ever to hit the United States when it made landfall in South Carolina in 1989, causing $4.2 billion in insured damage. Since then, the total insured property along South...
California Regulators Nix San Diego Utility’s Wildfire Plan
Sep 21 2009 // California regulators soundly rejected a utility company’s plan to cut electricity to a vast swath of San Diego bedroom communities when the weather is ripe for major wildfires. The California Public Utilities...
Lawmakers Eye Tornado Shelters for Trailer Parks in Oklahoma
Sep 17 2009 // Prompted by a deadly February tornado in southern Oklahoma, a state House panel on Tuesday examined ways to increase the number of tornado shelters at mobile home parks. Reps. Pat Ownbey, R-Ardmore, and Samson Buck,...
Potential Hurricane Insurance Losses Added to Florida’s Long-Range Deficit Projections
Sep 17 2009 // A House-Senate budget panel has added the state’s risk of incurring billions of dollars in possible hurricane insurance losses to Florida’s long-range financial outlook. The new changes could dwarf potential...
It Was No Katrina But Some in Coastal America Remember Ivan’s Terror
Sep 17 2009 // People who lived through Hurricane Ivan can’t forget the haunting images left by one of the strongest storms ever recorded: condo towers collapsed in roiling surf, splintered homes or flat slabs, fragments of...
AIR Tracking ‘Super Typhoon’ Choi-Wan, a Category 5 Storm
Sep 17 2009 // According to catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide, tropical cyclone Choi-Wan, currently raging in the Pacific Ocean, is a Category 5 storm, or “super typhoon,” with wind speeds reaching 200 mph, 320...
Gulf Coast Construction ‘Woefully Inadequate’ to Survive Storm Flooding
Sep 17 2009 // Government minimum flood elevation requirements for properties vulnerable to storm surge throughout the Gulf Coast region are “woefully inadequate,” according to a new study of property damage caused by...
Building of Unique Disaster Research Facility in South Carolina Begins
Sep 16 2009 // The property/casualty insurance industry today officially broke ground for the building of a disaster safety research center in Chester County, South Carolina. The Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) said its...
L.A. Detectives Ask for Help in Wildfire Probe
Sep 14 2009 // Los Angeles homicide detectives investigating the deadly arson fire burning in the Angeles National Forest want to talk to anyone who made the initial efforts to report the blaze, authorities said Friday. The investigators...
Ike Study: Hurricane Storm Surge a Threat to More Coastal Properties
Sep 14 2009 // Government minimum flood elevation requirements for properties vulnerable to storm surge throughout the Gulf Coast region are woefully inadequate, according to a new study of property damage caused by Hurricane Ike, which...
RMS Warns Tropical Storm Koppu Threatens Southern China
Sep 14 2009 // Risk Management Solutions is currently tracking the progress of tropical storm Koppu. As of this morning, the storm was located over the South China Sea, approximately 130 miles (210 kms) south southeast of Hong...
Hawaii Group Buys Hurricane Insurer Zephyr from Kingsway
Sep 11 2009 // Toronto-based Kingsway Financial Services Inc. has agreed to sell Zephyr Insurance Co., Inc. to Zephyr Acquisition Co., an acquisition vehicle of Ocean Harbor Holding Inc. and MP Holdings LLC, a Hawaiian based investor...
Los Angeles Wildfire Has Destroyed 82 Homes, New Estimate Finds
Sep 11 2009 // Fire officials say a new damage survey shows 82 homes have been destroyed from the blaze burning north of Los Angeles, up four from the previous report. The U.S. Forest Service also increased containment of the fire to 71...
Hurricane Fred Weakens in Atlantic
Sep 10 2009 // Hurricane Fred weakened on Wednesday after briefly flaring into a powerful Category 3 storm in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and was forecast to fizzle as it churned far away from land. Fred’s sustained winds dropped to...
Validus Names Cooper to Head No. Am. Catastrophe Re Underwriting
Sep 10 2009 // Bermuda-based Validus Holdings, Ltd. Has appointed Charles F.A. Cooper as the Head of North American Property Catastrophe Reinsurance Underwriting of Validus’ wholly-owned subsidiary Validus Reinsurance, Ltd.,...
Swiss Re Issues New <em>sigma</em> Report on Insurance-linked Securities
Sep 10 2009 // According to Swiss Re’s new sigma study, “the role of indices in transferring insurance risks to the capital markets”, both (re)insurers and investors benefit when clearly defined and regularly updated...
