Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
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...
FM Global Places $300 Million Pacific Northwest Earthquake Cat Bond
Aug 29 2006 // Commercial and industrial property insurer FM Global announced the private placement of a second US$300 million catastrophe bond to protect against the consequences of unusual earthquake activity in the Pacific Northwest...
Milwaukee Man Says He’d Still be Hooked on Drugs if Not for Hurricane
Aug 29 2006 // If Hurricane Katrina had not devastated New Orleans, James DeAngelis says he would still be there hooked on crack, cocaine, marijuana and alcohol _ his life for the past decade. After the hurricane, the 39-year-old ended...
A Year Later: La. Issues Updated Hurricane Katrina Insurance Figures
Aug 29 2006 // The Louisiana Department of Insurance has issued an updated statewide estimate of reported claims and insured losses paid-to-date (information as of July 31, 2006) for damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana. This...
Texas Insurers Say They Learned Lessons from Hurricane Katrina
Aug 29 2006 // Texas insurers were thankful that Hurricane Katrina avoided the state’s coastal property, but the storm provided the industry valuable lessons in dealing with future catastrophes. Hurricane Katrina forced companies...
In Advance of Windstorm Hearing, AIA Provides Input for Texas Legislators
Aug 29 2006 // The American Insurance Association (AIA) announced it has submitted information regarding residual insurance markets and natural catastrophes to the Texas Joint Committee on Windstorm Coverage and Budgetary Impact for its...
Texas Agent Group Urges Lawmakers to Address Windstorm Problems
Aug 29 2006 // At its Board of Directors meeting in Austin on Aug. 25 and 26, the Texas Insurance Professionals (PIA Texas) discussed the current situation facing the Texas insurance market as it relates to the Texas Windstorm Insurance...
Risk Management Solutions Analyzes Calif. Wildfire Data
Aug 28 2006 // Risk Management Solutions, Newark, Calif., has applied its RMS Wildfire Hazard Data to analyze recent fires that have burned almost twice as much area as the five-year average for the same time period. The RMS data was...
UPDATE 1: Hurricane Ernesto Menaces Haiti, Cuba; Florida in Storm’s Path
Aug 27 2006 // As of 11:00 am EDT, when the National Hurricane Center in Miami issued its latest bulletin, Tropical Storm Ernesto had become a Category 1 hurricane, the first of the current season. The hurricane’s center was...
