Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Fla. Agents Send Response Vehicle to Tornado-ravaged Kan. Town
May 22 2007 // The Florida Association of Insurance Agents’ state-of-the-art catastrophe response vehicle (CRV) arrived in Greensburg, Kan. earlier this week to assist insurance agents whose offices were demolished by the tornado...
Forecasters to Test 3-D Radar Hurricane Tracking Technique
May 21 2007 // Forecasters will test a new technique this summer that provides a detailed 3-D view of an approaching hurricane every six minutes and allows them to determine whether the storm is gathering strength as it nears land. The...
Fire outlook: 2007 wildfire season looks wicked
May 21 2007 // Fire scientists are predicting an above-average wildfire season from May through August 2007, according to the National Interagency Fire Center Predictive Services Group based in Boise, Idaho. In its “National...
News Currents
May 21 2007 // Risk managers report total cost of risk continues downward trend The commercial insurance industry continued to experience an overall decline in total cost of risk in 2006 despite coastal property premium hikes, according...
Wildfires take major toll in Georgia, Florida
May 21 2007 // Officials closed a 35-mile stretch of Interstate 75 from the Georgia-Florida state line to Lake City, Fla., as well as a 40-mile stretch of Interstate 10, from U.S. 90 to U.S. 129, as a gigantic wildfire approached them...
Spring wildfires, floods wreak havoc from coast to coast
May 21 2007 // Nature’s fury made life miserable from one end of the United States to the other, with people forced out of their homes by wildfires near both coasts and the Canadian border and by major flooding in the Midwest. And...
Claims against insurance agents and brokers: Timing is everything
May 21 2007 // Flood policies at heart of many cases against Gulf Coast producers In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, many insurance agents and brokers in Louisiana and Mississippi and, to some extent, in Texas have found...
Status quo on Capitol Hill may be best
May 21 2007 // IIABA’s leader Bob Rusbuldt hopes Congress does nothing, except on TRIA Insurance Journal’s Andrew Simpson, at the IIABA’s National Legislative Conference and Convention in Washington, D.C., in April,...
Wildfires take major toll
May 21 2007 // Officials closed a 35-mile stretch of Interstate 75 from the Georgia-Florida state line to Lake City, Fla., as well as a 40-mile stretch of Interstate 10, from U.S. 90 to U.S. 129, as a gigantic wildfire approached them...
EMC Insurance reports tornado losses at $21 million
May 21 2007 // EMC Insurance Cos. said it expects to see losses of up to $21 million from storms in May, including devastating tornadoes that killed at least 11 people in Kansas. Des Moines-based EMC insures several businesses and homes...
News Currents
May 21 2007 // Spring wildfires, floods wreak havoc from coast to coast Inmates from the Georgia Department of Corrections use Class A foam and rakes Tuesday, May 1, 2007 to extinguish the remains of a fire in Waycross, Ga. As part of a...
Claims against insurance agents and brokers: Timing is everything
May 21 2007 // In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, many insurance agents and brokers in Louisiana and Mississippi and, to some extent, in Texas have found themselves being sued for allegedly failing to advise their customers...
Hurricane Chief: Millions Wasted on NOAA Publicity Campaign
May 21 2007 // The federal government is spending millions of dollars on a publicity campaign while its hurricane forecasters are struggling with budget cuts, according to the National Hurricane Center’s director. The National...
State Farm Claims at $12 Million After Deadly Kansas Tornado
May 21 2007 // State Farm Insurance Co. has paid out about $12 million in claims with more still coming in after a Kansas tornado that destroyed a town two weeks ago and killed at least a dozen people, the company said. Home and auto...
Insurers Try to Prevent Losses in Wildfire Hotspots
May 21 2007 // Spooked by devastating wildfire seasons, the nation’s top insurers are inspecting homes in high-risk areas throughout the West and threatening to cancel coverage if owners don’t clear brush or take other...
Director: FEMA More Prepared than Ever for Hurricane Season
May 18 2007 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency is more prepared than ever for the 2007 hurricane season, having at the ready helicopters, generators, disaster medical teams and road clearing crews to react within hours, according...
Fla. Building Codes, Revamped Since Andrew, Still Being Worked
May 18 2007 // When Category 5 Hurricane Andrew damaged or destroyed more than 125,000 Florida homes and left about 250,000 people homeless in south Miami-Dade County, the destruction was born from a mix of 165 mph winds, outdated...
Insurance Group Praises Industry for Timely Response to Kan. Tornado
May 18 2007 // Gov. Marc Racicot, president of the American Insurance Association (AIA), praised the insurance industry for its quick response in assessing the damage and paying policyholder claims in the aftermath of the devastating...
While Residents, Insurers Fret, Contractors Welcome Storms
May 18 2007 // With the 2007 hurricane season on the horizon, Steve Munnell acknowledges that the state’s roofing contractors are “praying for rain.” The executive director of the Florida Roofing, Sheet Metal and Air...
Many Florida Families Still Struggling as New Hurricane Season Nears
May 18 2007 // Terri Rose was living comfortably with her four children when 2004’s Hurricane Frances ripped a hole in the family’s roof. A few weeks later, Hurricane Jeanne soaked everything. Their home was condemned, then...
