Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
FEMA Emergency Housing Options Include Pre-Fabricated Cottages
May 30 2008 // Disaster victims might one day watch their homes and communities be rebuilt from the cool comfort of a front porch. The porches are a feature of prefabricated cottages designed for Hurricane Katrina’s victims as an...
Good Time to Lock in Property Insurance Pricing, Advise Brokers
May 30 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...
Deadly Iowa Tornado Rated State’s Strongest in 32 Years
May 29 2008 // A tornado that leveled half a town in northeast Iowa and killed seven people was the strongest to hit the state in 32 years, the National Weather Service said on May 27. The twister, three-quarters of a mile wide with...
Insured Damage from Recent Georgia Tornado Tops $40M, State Reports
May 29 2008 // State officials say damage from the tornado that hit north metro Atlanta last week now totals more than $40 million. The tornado that touched down on May 20 caused extensive damage in Cherokee, Cobb, north Fulton and...
For Emergency Planners, Hurricane Forecasts Have Limited Value
May 29 2008 // Each April, weather wizard William Gray emerges from his burrow deep in the Rocky Mountains to offer his forecast for the six-month hurricane season that starts June 1. And the news media are there, breathlessly awaiting...
Hurricane Season Begins June 1; Will Odds be in Texas’ Favor?
May 28 2008 // With hurricane season beginning June 1, Texans may be able to hold on to the hope that the odds are stacked for them. If historical experience for the past two decades holds true, Texas won’t see a hurricane hit its...
Colorado Tornado, Hail Damage Adds Up To Estimated $147M in Damage
May 28 2008 // Colorado residents in Windsor and surrounding communities are starting the process of repairing and rebuilding their homes, following May 22’s tornadoes and hail and wind storm. Meanwhile insurance companies have...
Expect Above Average Atlantic Hurricane Season, Say Forecasters
May 27 2008 // The nation’s annual forecast about how many hurricanes the Atlantic Ocean will churn up is now more like the daily weather report. Forecasters added probabilities to their 2008 report. It’s the same sort of...
ACE Contributes $1 Million to China Earthquake Relief
May 27 2008 // The ACE Group of Companies announced that the ACE Foundation – International has made a $1 million contribution to the Red Cross Society of China to support emergency relief efforts following the earthquake that...
Tornadoes Kill 1 Child in Minnesota; Iowa Twister Kills 6
May 27 2008 // While most of the country was celebrating Memorial Day with picnics and parades, people in two states were fighting to stay alive. A town official says a 2-year-old child has died and 20 are missing after a severe storm...
Colorado Residents Cleaning Up After Tornadoes, Hail
May 23 2008 // Colorado residents affected by powerful storms are beginning to sort through the wreckage and pick up the pieces. According to the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association, it is too early to estimate the total...
Weather Officials Confirm Tornado Touched Down in South Carolina
May 23 2008 // The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado touched down in Bamberg County on May 20. Forecasters say the twister had winds up to 90 mph and moved from just north of Olar to near Ehrhardt in the late afternoon. The...
Alabama and Mississippi Officials Ready for Hurricane Response
May 23 2008 // With no Gulf Coast hurricane since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Alabama and Mississippi officials have worried that residents and tourists could become complacent about the seriousness of orders to flee the next disaster...
Iowa City Votes Down Purchase of Earthquake Insurance
May 22 2008 // City leaders in Johnston, Iowa have decided against earthquake insurance in the wake of two tremors this spring in Illinois and Missouri. The City Council on Tuesday, May 20th rejected spending $4,000 a year for an...
RMS Launches New Catastrophe Modeling Analysis Service
May 22 2008 // Risk Management Solutions (RMS) has unveiled its new RMS RiskAnalytics operation, which provides a team of highly skilled analysts to perform catastrophe modeling activities as a seamless extension of a company’s...
Tornado Strikes Northern Colorado
May 22 2008 // A large tornado struck Northern Colorado on May 22, 2008, striking several areas in the town of Windsor, which is about 80 miles north of Denver. Initial reports indicate one person was killed, but there were no official...
Nobel Peace Prize Winners Honor Catastrophe Model Pioneer Clark
May 22 2008 // Karen Clark, who developed the first hurricane catastrophe model, has been recognized by a climate change group that won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Clark, president and chief executive officer of Karen Clark & Co. in...
Scientists Predict $200B in Damage from Southern California Earthquake
May 22 2008 // The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the California Geological Survey (CGS) have jointly published a report detailing a hypothetical scenario the impact a 7.8 magnitude earthquake — similar to the recent earthquake...
Officials Say April Earthquake a Dress Rehearsal for Future Events
May 21 2008 // Missouri emergency management officials say they’re better prepared for a major earthquake, thanks in part to last month’s 5.2 quake in southern Illinois. Susie Stonner of the State Emergency Management Agency...
Central Pacific Hurricane Center Predicts 3-4 Cyclones
May 21 2008 // The Central Pacific Hurricane Center is predicting slightly fewer than normal tropical cyclones to develop in the Central Pacific basin during the upcoming season. Forecasters at National Oceanic Atmospheric...
