Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita spawn legislation, bulletins in Miss. and La.
Sep 4 2006 // Hurricanes Katrina and Rita exposed many misconceptions and misunderstandings that consumers had, or claimed to have had, with respect to their insurance coverage for hurricane related damage. The aftermath of these two...
News Currents
Sep 4 2006 // Washington governor declares wildfire emergency Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire declared a wildfire emergency as several large fires burned in the state and forecasters predicted more thunderstorms and high...
Joel Ario, Oregon, Insurance Administrator
Sep 4 2006 // When looking at credit scoring, the affordability and availability of health care, or even the construction liability market, states often are better-equipped than the federal government to address the issues, according to...
Rates are softening
Sep 4 2006 // As the surplus lines world turns to another year of soft market conditions, specialists and innovators may be the ones to survive as increasing competition intensifies, according to excess and surplus lines brokers,...
First post-Katrina court decision a victory for insurers
Sep 4 2006 // On Aug. 15, 2006, a decision was handed down in the first post-Katrina insurance lawsuit to go to trial. Because there are thousands of lawsuits raising the same claims with millions, if not billions, of dollars at stake,...
Northeast leads in businesses buying property terrorism coverage
Sep 4 2006 // Nearly six in 10 large and mid-sized U.S. businesses obtained insurance to cover property terrorism risks during 2005, a dramatic increase from the 2003 average of 27 percent and up from 50 percent in 2004. A report from...
Editor’s Note: Hurricane Katrina, a year later, another perspective
Sep 4 2006 // The Midwest is not affected by hurricanes or hurricane seasons because obviously our only coastal regions involve the Great Lakes, not oceans. The central region of this country does have its own natural disasters in the...
UPDATE 5: Ernesto Strikes Carolinas; Heads Northwest
Sep 1 2006 // Tropical Storm Ernesto made landfall near Cape Fear along the coast of North Carolina at around 11:30 p.m. last night, lashing the region with high winds and heavy rains. More than eight inches/20.32 cms of rain reportedly...
UPDATE 1: Hurricane John Strengthens; Baja California Threatened
Sep 1 2006 // After losing some strength along the West Coast of Mexico, Hurricane John has again become a “dangerous category three hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale,” according to the latest bulletin (8:00 a.m. PDT)...
Katrina By the Numbers: $10.5 Billion in Claims Paid in Miss.
Aug 31 2006 // There have been 483,693 claims filed and more than $10.5 billion paid to Mississippians for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, according to the Mississippi Insurance Department. Those numbers were as of August 1, 2006 and...
Category 3 Hurricane John Threatens West Coast of Mexico
Aug 31 2006 // Although they infrequently touch land, the Pacific Ocean has hurricanes too, and John is a bad one. The storm is currently hugging the coast of Mexico. Its center was located near latitude 18.3 north/longitude 104.9 west...
Lloyd’s Outlines its Reinsurance Activities, Thunderbird Re Sidecar
Aug 31 2006 // In anticipation of the upcoming Reinsurance Rendezvous in Monte Carlo, Lloyd’s has presented an outline of its reinsurance activities and announced the creation of a Cayman Islands-based sidecar, Thunderbird Re, to...
Most Americans Favor Mitigation Policies While Opposing Subsidies for High Risks
Aug 31 2006 // Most Americans favor public policies that could help to mitigate the damage caused by catastrophic natural disasters before they happen, but many Americans remain unprepared for a disaster in their own homes and...
UPDATE 4: Ernesto Gains Strength, Heads Toward the Carolinas
Aug 31 2006 // Ernesto may not be a hurricane, but it continues to be a very persistent tropical storm. After passing over Florida with a lot of rain and wind, but minimal damage, Ernesto has gained new strength with maximum sustained...
Texas Windstorm Insurance Association Seeks Solutions
Aug 31 2006 // With an ever-increasing number of policyholders, the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association is considerably under-funded in the event a major hurricane makes landfall in Galveston or Corpus Christi, according to Jerry...
Texas Agents’ Group Testifies Before Committee on Windstorm Coverage
Aug 31 2006 // Independent Insurance Agents of Texas announced it has proposed a set of guiding principles before the Texas Legislature’s Joint Committee on Windstorm Coverage and Budget Impact during a public hearing in Corpus...
Arkansas’ Bowman Keeps Eye on Earthquake Market
Aug 30 2006 // Like insurance commissioners in other states, Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Julie Benafield Bowman, is keeping an eye on catastrophe issues and the availability of insurance related to them. Unlike commissioners in...
Best Affirms Hannover Re’s “A” Ratings; Removes from Review
Aug 30 2006 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of “A” (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating (ICR) of “a” of Germany’s Hannover Rueckversicherung AG (Hannover Re) and its...
UPDATE 3: Florida Breathes a Sigh of Relief as Ernesto Fizzles
Aug 30 2006 // Despite some scattered power cuts and a lot of rain, Tropical Storm Ernesto has proved to be more of an inconvenience than a disaster for most Florida residents. Ernesto went from a tropical depression to the...
UPDATE 2: Weakened Ernesto Crosses Cuba; Florida on Watch
Aug 29 2006 // A significantly weaker Tropical Storm Ernesto crossed over the eastern Provinces of Cuba on Monday, bringing heavy rains. More than 500,000 people were evacuated from the region by authorities as a precaution, but so far...
