Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Update: ‘Extremely Dangerous’ Hurricane Florence Prompts Evacuations in Carolinas
Sep 10 2018 // Tuesday, Sep 11, 2018, 5:47 am— Florence continued to roll toward the U.S. East Coast, poised to become the strongest hurricane in almost 30 years to hit the Carolinas as more than 1 million people began fleeing a...
ILS Market Could Bear 20% of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Marie Loss: A.M. Best
Sep 10 2018 // The insurance-linked securities (ILS) market potentially could bear up 20 percent of the insured losses generated by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Marie, according to an A.M. Best report. These three hurricanes during a...
Insured Losses from Typhoon Jebi Estimated at $2.3-$4.5 Billion: AIR
Sep 9 2018 // Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide estimates that industry insured losses from Typhoo Jebi, which made landfall in Japan on Tuesday, Sept. 4, will be between $2.3 billion (JPY 257 billion) and $4.5 billion (JPY...
Update: Hurricane Florence Poses Threat to Carolinas, Virginia Later This Week
Sep 9 2018 // Updated Monday, Sept 10, 8:17 am —Top winds for Hurricane Florence grew to 105 miles (169 kilometers) per hour as it pushed westward toward the U.S. East Coast, a major threat to homes, agriculture and the waning tourist...
Northern California Wildfire Rages, Abandoned Trucks Litter Highway
Sep 7 2018 // An explosive wildfire closed down dozens of miles of a major California freeway only weeks after a nearby blaze that left neighborhoods in ruins and killed eight people. The Delta Fire erupted Wednesday afternoon and...
Claims from California Summer Fires Top $845M, Commissioner Blames Climate Change
Sep 6 2018 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones on Thursday announced that insured residential and commercial losses from the Carr and Mendocino Complex fires topped $845 million and are now counted among the most destructive...
East Coast Warned Hurricane Florence May Visit Next Week
Sep 6 2018 // As the remains of Tropical Storm Gordon soak the Mississippi Valley, forecasters are tracking a major hurricane deep in the Atlantic Ocean that could threaten the U.S. East Coast next week. Hurricane Florence, a Category 4...
U.S. Report Says Lack of Staff, Resources, Planning Hurt FEMA’s 2017 Disaster Response
Sep 6 2018 // The federal government’s chief watchdog slammed the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response to the hurricane that killed thousands of people in Puerto Rico last year, saying it was unprepared and failed...
Update: Weakened Gordon Dumps Heavy Rains; Hurricane Florence Heads Toward Bermuda
Sep 5 2018 // Tues., Sept 6, 1:16 am— Tropical Depression Gordon was expected on Thursday to dump more heavy rains that could cause flooding in central U.S. states as Hurricane Florence, a monster Category 3 storm, churned toward...
California Bridge Under Construction Gets Sensors to Gather Earthquake Data
Sep 5 2018 // A replacement bridge under construction at the second-busiest port in the U.S. isn’t just a crucial route for cargo trucks and Southern California commuters – it’s a concrete-and-steel science experiment for...
Typhoon Jebi Hits Osaka in Japan, Leaving a Trail of Damage, Airport Closed
Sep 5 2018 // Regions around Osaka, Japan’s second biggest population center, struggled to recover from damage left by Typhoon Jebi, which left 10 people dead, hundreds of thousands of buildings without power and the area’s...
Florida Insurance Chief Warns of AOB Scams as Storm Gordon Lingers Over Gulf Coast
Sep 5 2018 // Florida’s top insurance regulator has issued a warning to residents facing damage from Tropical Storm Gordon, the first major storm to impact the state in the 2018 Hurricane Season. Florida Insurance Commissioner...
Update: Tropical Storm Gordon Weakens as It Makes Landfall
Sep 4 2018 // Tropical Storm Gordon weakened after making landfall just west of the Alabama-Mississippi border and lashing the U.S. Gulf Coast with high winds and heavy rain early on Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC)...
California Lawmakers OK Bill to Help PG&E Pay for Wildfire Costs
Sep 4 2018 // California lawmakers passed legislation to help utility giant PG&E Corp. pay for billions of dollars in potential liabilities from wildfires that ravaged Northern California wine country last year. The state Assembly...
Record Numbers of Named Hurricanes Form in Pacific, with Much Quieter Atlantic
Sep 4 2018 // Hurricanes in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans follow a see-saw pattern — when one region is down, the other is usually up. And with the Atlantic quiet this year, the Pacific is setting records. There’s been a...
Typhoon Jebi Makes Landfall in Japan as Strongest Storm to Hit Country in 25 Years
Sep 4 2018 // Typhoon Jebi made landfall in western Japan on Tuesday, the strongest tropical cyclone to come ashore in Japan in 25 years, and has picked up speed as it bears down on one of Japan’s most densely populated areas. The...
Tropical Storm Gordon to Become Hurricane, Strike Gulf Coast Tuesday; Flood Damage Expected
Sep 3 2018 // Tropical Storm Gordon will grow into a hurricane as it grazes offshore natural gas and oil fields, where it has already sparked evacuations, before coming ashore over the lower Mississippi Valley later on Tuesday or early...
A Tale of Two Floridas: Hurricane Irma’s Belated Impact on Reinsurers
Sep 3 2018 // Reinsurers expressed different views of loss developments related to Hurricane Irma, when executives reviewed the impact of the Florida event on second-quarter earnings reports last month. Everest Re was among those...
6 Small Businesses Share Disaster Recovery Stories
Aug 31 2018 // As small business owners in Hawaii and California clean up following Hurricane Lane and wildfires, they’ll find there’s no one formula for recovery. The same disaster can devastate businesses in divergent ways...
ILS Issuance in H1 Tops $7B, Reflecting Capital Markets’ Re/Insurance Appetite: Swiss Re
Aug 31 2018 // The first half of 2018 aptly demonstrated that the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market has an undiminished appetite to provide re/insurance protection – despite last year’s expensive insured natural...
