Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Carriers Flooded With Auto Damage Claims
Nov 20 2005 // Plantation, Fla., ‘Insurance Village’ The “Insurance Village” established by Florida’s Depart-ment of Financial Services in Plantation, Fla. west of Fort Lauderdale, had a lot of damaged...
News Briefs
Nov 20 2005 // FloridaFAIA Likes Due-Diligence Decision The Florida Association of Insu-rance Agents has filed an amicus (friend of the court) brief with the First District Court of Appeals in a case involving an insurance agent who...
News Currents
Nov 20 2005 // Hurricane Rita Claims Expected to Hit $4.7 Billion Majority of losses sustained in Louisiana, Texas. The Insurances Services Office expects property and casualty losses from Hurricane Rita to hit $4.7 billion, with the...
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: Exposing Settled (?) Insurance Coverage Issues
Nov 20 2005 // After any natural disaster, people who suffered property damage eventually look for sources of money to repair their damage and/or replace their loss with insurance being the first source for those with policies. In this...
House Committee Proposes Two-Year Terrorism Insurance Extension
Nov 20 2005 // The House Financial Service Committee has come up with proposal to renew the federal terrorism insurance act for two years that some industry groups see as “workable” and “positive.” The bill,...
News Briefs
Nov 20 2005 // Q3 Insured Losses an All-Time Record: Pummeled by Hurricane Katrina and six other natural catastrophes in the third quarter, U.S. property/casualty insurers paid an all-time record $40.8 billion to homeowners and...
Senate Passes Terrorism Insurance Extension
Nov 18 2005 // Moving just days after committees in the House and Senate advanced terrorism insurance bills, the full U.S. Senate today passed its version of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Extension Act of 2005 (S. 467). By a voice vote,...
Florida CFO Announces Support for Catastrophic Fund
Nov 18 2005 // Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher has advocated several federal and state solutions for avoiding an insurance market meltdown, including the creation of a National Catastrophe Fund. Today, Florida...
Insurance Commissioners Announce Framework for National Cat Program
Nov 17 2005 // Concluding the two-day National Catastrophe Insurance Summit held in Burlingame, Calif., insurance commissioners from California, Florida, Illinois and New York on Wednesday agreed that they had a basic framework for a...
Hurricanes Rita, Katrina Impact Progressive’s October Results
Nov 17 2005 // The Progressive Corporation today reported its financial results for October 2005. Net premiums written were $1.328.1 million, a 4 percent increase from $1,279.8 million in October 2004. Net premiums earned were $1,340...
Gulf Coast Firm Unveils Law Weblog for Hurricane-Affected Areas
Nov 16 2005 // McGlinchey Stafford PLLC, a law firm based in the Gulf Coast region, has launched a comprehensive resource for companies with business interests in hurricane-affected areas. The blog, found at www.hurricanelawblog.com,...
U.S. Needs National Catastrophe Insurance Program, Insurance Commissioners Say
Nov 16 2005 // Insurance Commissioners from California, Florida, Illinois and New York began laying the groundwork Tuesday for what they hope will turn into a national catastrophe insurance program that would cover all Americans. Hosting...
Senate, House Panels Both Advance Terrorism Insurance Bills
Nov 16 2005 // The Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services Committee each marked up legislation Wednesday to extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) for two years. The Senate Banking Committee reported out S. 467 by...
CORRECTION: Brit Estimates Wilma Claims at $65 Million; Total Hurricane Losses at $316.5 Million
Nov 16 2005 // The original article contained a significant mathematical error. U.K.-based international insurer and reinsurer, Brit Insurance Holdings PLC, announced that claims arising from Hurricane Wilma, net of reinsurance...
FEMA Pushing Dec. 1 Motel Check-Out for 53,000 Hurricane Families
Nov 16 2005 // The Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is moving to end its subsidies for hotel and motel rooms for 53,000 families displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. On Dec. 1, 2005...
No Rate Change for TWIA; Texas Insurer Groups Question Why
Nov 16 2005 // Texas Insurance Commissioner Mike Geeslin ordered the rates of homeowners that purchase windstorm coverage from the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) to remain unchanged, while increasing commercial rates five...
Commissioner Wooley Supports Uniform Building Codes in La.
Nov 16 2005 // The Louisiana Department of Insurance released the following statement by Commissioner of Insurance Robert Wooley to the Louisiana Legislature expressing his support for the establishment of statewide uniform building code...
As House Prepares Terrorism Insurance Bill Today, Coalition Offers Support and Senate Readies Its Own
Nov 16 2005 // Business insurance consumers represented by the multi-industry Coalition to Insure Against Terrorism have expressed their support for federal terrorism insurance legislation that will be marked up by the House Committee on...
Several States Hit as Tornadoes Tear Up Midwest, Southeast
Nov 16 2005 // Tornadoes barreled across the Midwest and portions of the Southeast on Tuesday, knocking out electricity and damaging buildings in several states. The storms killed at least one person. Meteorologists told The Associated...
Major N.Y. Hurricane Would Cost $100 Billion, Warns Cat Model Firm AIR
Nov 16 2005 // A major hurricane making landfall in the New York City metropolitan area would result in approximately $50 billion of insured losses with total economic losses exceeding $100 billion, according to an expert testifying...