Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Unseasonal Winter Heat Across Australia Raises Wildfire Risks
Aug 22 2024 // Australia is facing elevated wildfire risks months ahead of the summer fire season, as an unusually warm winter scorches parts of the continent and threatens to set temperature records. Heat is forecast to bake vast areas...
Swiss Re First-Half Profit Beats Estimates on Lower Catastrophe Claims
Aug 22 2024 // Swiss Re AG’s first-half net income beat estimates, as the re-insurer avoided higher claims from natural catastrophes that have impacted the broader insurance industry. Profit for the second quarter was $996 million,...
Compounding Disasters in Lake Charles Highlight Need for Disaster Preparedness
Aug 21 2024 // Most Americans will remember 2020 as the year when the pandemic changed everything. But for Lake Charles, Louisiana, and its neighbors along the Gulf Coast, it was also the year of record-setting disasters, when...
Puerto Rico Insurers to Absorb Hurricane Ernesto Losses: AM Best
Aug 21 2024 // Losses in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Ernesto are expected to be absorbed by the island’s domiciled insurers, according to industry rating AM Best. Initial feedback from AM Best-rated insurers—though it is early in...
Beryl-Battered Grenada Becomes 1st Country to Use Government Bond Hurricane Clause
Aug 20 2024 // Grenada has become the first country in the world to use a so-called hurricane clause in a government bond – a special feature that allows authorities to postpone debt payments in the wake of a major natural...
California Pot Farmers Feel the Heat from Low Pricing, Wildfires
Aug 20 2024 // Small-scale cannabis farmers in California are calling it quits, crushed by crop damage from devastating wildfires and sliding prices, and industry experts expect the exodus to continue near-term in the largest pot market...
California Commissioner Invites Input on Final Phase of Wildfire Modeling Regulation
Aug 19 2024 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has invited public input as he begins the final phase of approving a “first of its kind” catastrophe modeling and ratemaking regulation that “will help...
Europe’s $42 Billion Effort to Fight Wildfires Is an Uphill Battle
Aug 19 2024 // Europe is spending tens of billions of euros a year to fight wildfires, yet it hasn’t stopped blazes from flaring up across Greece and other parts of the continent this summer. This week fires on the outskirts of...
The Huge Profits Investors Have Made on Catastrophe Bonds Are Raising Eyebrows
Aug 19 2024 // A strategy that’s delivered specialist investors huge returns is now facing scrutiny, amid concerns that its risk-reward dynamics might be skewed against some issuers. Catastrophe bonds, which are issued by insurers,...
Wildfires Are Growing Under Climate Change, and Their Smoke Threatens Farmworkers
Aug 16 2024 // As wildfires scorched swaths of land in the wine country of Sonoma County in 2020, sending ash flying and choking the air with smoke, Maria Salinas harvested grapes. Her saliva turned black from inhaling the toxins, until...
Wildfire Near Athens Burns Area Nearly Twice the Size of Manhattan
Aug 16 2024 // A European Union satellite mapping agency says 104 square kilometers (40 square miles) of land was burned northeast of Athens this week during a deadly wildfire that gutted scores of homes and prompted multiple countries...
Ernesto Becomes Category 2 Hurricane as It Heads to Bermuda
Aug 16 2024 // Ernesto strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane as it plowed northward toward Bermuda, threatening to drench the British territory with heavy rain and unleash flash floods. The storm was 410 miles (660 kilometers)...
Hundreds Able to Return Home After Fleeing Wildfire Along California-Nevada Line
Aug 15 2024 // Hundreds of people were allowed to return home this week after being forced to flee a wildfire west of Reno that also shut down Interstate 80 along the California-Nevada line. About 170 firefighters continued to work to...
Judge Bars Insurers From Going After Defendants Who Agreed to $4B Maui Wildfire Settlement
Aug 15 2024 // A Maui judge’s ruling resolves a critical roadblock to finalizing a $4 billion wildfire settlement: Insurance companies who have paid out more than $2 billion in claims can seek reimbursement only from the settlement...
Update: Severe Typhoon Skims Japan, Disrupting Flight, Train Services
Aug 15 2024 // Typhoon Ampil grazed Japan’s main island of Honshu on Friday, prompting cancellations of flights and trains in the middle of the country’s peak summer holiday season. Japan Airlines Co. and All Nippon Airways...
Hurricane Ernesto Threatens Bermuda, Leaves Puerto Rico in Dark
Aug 15 2024 // Hurricane Ernesto took aim at Bermuda as almost half of Puerto Rico remained without power in the storm’s wake, the island’s fragile electric grid battered by high winds. Officials declared a hurricane watch...
Catastrophe Bond Issuance Is Set to Blast Through 2023 Record
Aug 15 2024 // Issuance of catastrophe bonds is on track to exceed the record set in 2023, as a cocktail of climate change, population density and inflation feeds growth in a market built around natural disasters. A fresh analysis by...
Report: 2.6M Homes with a Cost of $1.3 Trillion at Moderate to Very High Risk of Wildfire
Aug 15 2024 // More than 2.6 million homes across 14 states with a total reconstruction cost of $1.3 trillion are at moderate to very high risk of wildfire damage during the 2024 wildfire season, a new report shows. The 2024 CoreLogic...
Tornado Havoc Has Ohio Residents Facing Week-Long Power Cuts
Aug 14 2024 // Thousands of FirstEnergy Corp.’s customers in Ohio will potentially be without power through this after two tornadoes hit the northeastern part of the state last Tuesday. About 252,000 customers of The Illuminating...
Tropical Storm Ernesto Drenches Puerto Rico on Path Northward
Aug 14 2024 // Tropical Storm Ernesto pounded Puerto Rico with torrential rain and winds as it brushed by the island on a track that’s likely to see it become a hurricane later Wednesday. Ernesto was about 85 miles (135 kilometers)...
