Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
North Carolina Wildfire Could Burn for Months
Jun 16 2008 // Fire officials warned people living near a massive wildfire at a federal wildlife refuge in eastern North Carolina that the blaze could smolder for months in the peat-filled soil. The fire burned about 30,000 acres in and...
Cost of Claims From Hailstorms in Oklahoma Could Top $20M
Jun 16 2008 // Hail damage claims from storms that hit Oklahoma in early June could easily top $20 million, an insurance industry source says, matching the cost of a similar storm in April. Meanwhile, nearly 1,260 electric company...
Hurricane Forecasts Have Limited Value
Jun 16 2008 // They May Help the Public Think About Upcoming Storms But Forecasts Have Been Largely Misused by National Media, Says One Expert Each April, weather wizard William Gray emerges from his burrow deep in the Rocky Mountains to...
Weather Is a Big Deal in South Central States
Jun 16 2008 // Well before the June 1 start of hurricane season claims costs from weather related damages were on a steady climb across the South Central states of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana. Late May, early June hailstorms...
Good Time to Lock in Property Insurance Pricing, Advise Brokers
Jun 16 2008 // Science and technology are converging with risk management to help insurers negotiate the current hurricane season such that it’s now possible to use short-term hurricane forecasts — as few as 10 days out...
Swiss Re Study Analyzes Rising Disaster Costs; Role of Risk Transfers
Jun 13 2008 // A new study from Swiss Re examines the rising impact of natural disasters, which is “driving up the cost of disaster relief and reconstruction for the public sector, especially in developing countries where insurance...
North Carolina Holds its Largest Hurricane Evacuation Exercise
Jun 13 2008 // Lenoir Community College in Kinston hosted North Carolina’s largest hurricane evacuation exercise this year. The eastern North Carolina town suffered through hurricanes Fran and Floyd in the 1990s. The exercise,...
Northern California Wildfires Forces Hundreds to Flee Homes
Jun 13 2008 // Firefighters struggled to gain control of a series of wind-driven wildfires burning across Northern California, including a raging forest fire that forced hundreds to flee their homes in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The...
Louisiana House OKs Bill on Regional Storm Deductibles
Jun 12 2008 // Insurance companies should be allowed to adjust their so-called “named storm” deductibles on homeowner policies, depending on properties’ distance from the hurricane-prone Gulf of Mexico, according to a...
Wisconsin Communities Sign Up for Terrorism Insurance
Jun 12 2008 // Communities across the country and some in Wisconsin have signed up for domestic terrorism insurance. Local leaders say that while the likelihood of a terrorist attack is low, it’s still an insurance policy that...
Tornado Hits Iowa Boy Scout Camp, 4 Killed, 48 Seriously Injured
Jun 12 2008 // Adding insult to already enough injury–Iowa was hit again on June 11 with another round of deadly storms. This tornado roared through a remote camp area hitting the Little Sioux Boy Scout camp in Western Iowa....
RMS To Offer Catastrophe Updates Online
Jun 12 2008 // Newark, Calif.-based Risk Management Solutions (RMS) has launched an initiative to keep businesses informed of the impact of catastrophic events by making its expert analysis publicly available on its Web site. The RMS Cat...
Rocky Mountain Insurance Asssociation Cautions Against Scams Following Tornado
Jun 12 2008 // Colorado consumers need to be aware of an insurance scam that appears to be operating in the aftermath of the Windsor tornado, according to the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association. In one case reported to the...
Florida Extends 1% Hurricane Surcharge Until 2014
Jun 11 2008 // The Florida Cabinet voted to extend a 1 percent insurance policy surcharge to cover hurricane claims that began in 2007 for two additional years through 2014. The assessment covers outstanding claims that originated during...
RMS, AIR Analyze Greek Quake
Jun 10 2008 // Risk Management Solutions and AIR Worldwide have both issued bulletins analyzing the effects of a 6.1 magnitude earthquake that struck Western Greece at 03:26 p.m. local time on Sunday, June 8. RMS said that according to...
Crews Continue to Battle Wildfire at Eastern North Carolina Refuge
Jun 10 2008 // Fire crews plan to continue building containment lines around a massive wildfire that is burning in a sparsely inhabited rural area of eastern North Carolina. Spokesman Bill Swartley of the North Carolina Forest Service...
Possible Tornado Damages Dozens of Mobile Homes in Florida
Jun 10 2008 // Florida officials said a possible tornado that moved through northern Lee County damaged about 50 mobiles homes, but no one was seriously injured. North Fort Myers Fire Chief Terry Pye said at least eight homes were...
Earthquake Swarm Picks up Again in Reno
Jun 10 2008 // A three-month-long series of earthquakes picked up again Sunday, June 8, 2008, as a string of minor temblors rattled Reno, Nev., causing downtown highrises to sway and knocking items off shelves. There were no immediate...
Authorities Say North Carolina Wildfire Could Burn for Months
Jun 9 2008 // Fire officials warned people living near a massive wildfire at a federal wildlife refuge in eastern North Carolina that the blaze could smolder for months in the peat-filled soil. The fire burned about 30,000 acres in and...
Survey: Hundreds Underinsured in Last Year’s California Wildfires
Jun 9 2008 // Hundreds of people who lost homes in last year’s wildfires did not have enough insurance to cover their rebuilding costs, according to a survey sponsored by United Policyholders, a San Francisco consumer...
