Latest Catastrophe Headlines

News Briefs

Dec 18 2005 // MISSOURI Insurer to Pay $8 Million: State Farm Insurance has been ordered to pay more than $8 million to a tow truck driver and his sister-in-law who were acquitted of insurance fraud after being accused of faking the...

Industry Voices Concerns Over National Insurance Catastrophe Plan

Dec 18 2005 // Industry representatives generally support state regulators’ efforts to craft a comprehensive plan for natural catastrophes but take issue with elements of the draft proposal that was aired during the recent meeting...

Insurance Commissioners Push Framework for National Cat Program

Dec 18 2005 // Insurance regulators, on the heels of the National Catastrophe Insurance Summit in Burlingame, Calif., in November, are peddling the framework for a national catastrophe insurance program they say would protect U.S....

Dec 18 2005 // Carriers View Gulf States As ‘Tough Place to Do Business’ More than 100 insurance and risk management executives and industry analysts attending a Future Focus conference in Charleston, S.C. predicted that...

Editor’s Note: Opportunity Knocks

Dec 18 2005 // As 2005 draws to a close it marks the end of the second tumultuous year for the industry. After the multiple hurricanes of 2004, everyone was hoping 2005 would be calmer, but we ended up having an even more catastrophic...

Historic Hurricane Year Puts the Spotlight on Federal Flood Insurance

Dec 18 2005 // Hurricanes Katrina and Rita affected the Gulf Coast as some of the strongest storms to hit the United States during the last 100 years, causing widespread devastation and flooding. In mid-January the country saw more than...

Meeting Today’s Challenges and Preparing for Tomorrow’s

Dec 18 2005 // Weather forecasters predicted that the 2005 hurricane season could be more active than normal, but no one thought it would produce 26 named storms and the most destructive storm on record-Hurricane Katrina. Katrina tested...

News Briefs

Dec 18 2005 // House Passes Terrorism Insurance Bill: Legislation that will extend the 2002 Terrorism Risk Insurance Act for an additional two years passed the House of Representatives floor by a vote of 371 to 49. The Senate already...

Preparing for Worst, Cat Modelers Say More Destruction Ahead

Dec 18 2005 // Florida has survived eight hurricanes in 15 months, but more destruction is coming, according to risk modeling companies and economists speaking at the National Catastrophe In-surance Summit in Burlingame,...

News Briefs

Dec 18 2005 // FLORIDA State Farm of Florida 8.6 Percent Rate Request Approved The Florida Department of Insurance approved an average statewide premium rate hike of 8.6 percent for State Farm of Florida, the largest insurer of homes in...

Munich Re Study Cites Changes in Atlantic Hurricane Risk

Dec 16 2005 // A report prepared by Dr. Eberhard Faust, who heads Munich Re’s Climate Change Research Department, points to some significant changes in the hurricane risk factors in the North Atlantic. Munich Re notes: “The...

Sen. Lott Suing State Farm for Hurricane Katrina Damages to His Pascagoula, Miss. Home

Dec 16 2005 // U.S. Sen. Trent Lott is suing his insurance company over his beachfront Pascagoula home, which was leveled by Hurricane Katrina. The law office of Lott’s brother-in-law, high-profile plaintiff’s Richard...

Unitrin Specialty Paid 92% of Hurricane Claims!

Dec 16 2005 // Unitrin Specialty to date has paid or settled over 92% of our claims from the hurricanes that hit Louisiana. How have we settled claims so quickly? Within hours of the disaster, Unitrin Specialty created a claims...

Alaska’s Augustine Volcano Showing Signs of Erupting, Scientists Say

Dec 16 2005 // A sulfurous steam plume, hundreds of miniature earthquakes and a new swath of ash on Alaska’s snowy Augustine Volcano have scientists alerted to a possible eruption in the next few months. The 4,134-foot volcano...

Bush Wants Added $1.5B to Rebuild Levees; Gov. Blanco Seeks Assistance

Dec 15 2005 // In an effort to avoid a repeat of Hurricane Katrina’s deadly damage on the levee system in New Orleans, President George W. Bush is asking for another $1.5 billion to help restructure the system. With the 2006...

La. Blue Roof Warranty Following Hurricane Lasts Only 30 Days

Dec 15 2005 // The free blue plastic sheeting installed on 78,700 hurricane-damaged roofs in Louisiana carries only a 30-day warranty, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Operation Blue Roof provides sheeting to...

Fitch Comments on New Reinsurers

Dec 15 2005 // Fitch ratings has issued a statement analyzing the prospects for the new reinsurance companies, established in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The rush to set up what Fitch calls the “Class of 2005” resembles...

Hurricane Experts Mayfield, Bailey, Key Speakers at Feb. 8 Windstorm Insurance Conference

Dec 14 2005 // Two leading hurricane experts, Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center, and Bill Bailey, director of the Hurricane Insurance Information Center will summarize the conclusion of the 2005 hurricane season and...

With Only Few Days Left, Industry Presses on Terrorism Insurance

Dec 14 2005 // Congress has only a few days left to decide the future of one of the legacies of the Sept. 11 attacks, federal backup for terrorism insurance sought by the nation’s builders and investors. The 2002 Terrorism Risk...

Hurricane Katrina: The Long Road to Recovery <em>An Insurance Journal Exclusive Video Report from the Gulf States</em>

Dec 14 2005 // With Gulf Coast residents and the insurance industry trying to recover from the country’s worst natural disaster ever, two Insurance Journal reporters set out to see for themselves the effects of Hurricane...