Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Vietnam Suffers Rare $1 Billion Natural Catastrophe Loss: Aon Benfield Report
Dec 11 2017 // Typhoon Damrey made landfall in Vietnam during November as a Category 2 strength storm, bringing estimated economic damages of VND22.1 trillion (US$1.0 billion) – a rare billion-dollar event for the country, according to...
It’ll Take Time for P/C Insurers’ Profits to Rebound After 2017 Storms, Wildfires: Fitch
Dec 11 2017 // U.S. property/casualty insurers will rebound in 2018 from the late-2017 onslaught of hurricanes and wildfires, but it will take a while to return to “significant underwriting profits,” Fitch Ratings predicted...
Report: 86K-plus Homes at Some Risk Level in Southern California Wildfires
Dec 8 2017 // A total of 86,242 homes in Ventura and Los Angeles counties with a combined reconstruction cost value of $27.7 billion are at some level of risk from the Thomas, Rye and Creek Wildfires, according to a CoreLogic report...
Los Angeles Wildfires Close Roads, Threaten Crops, Force Evacuations
Dec 7 2017 // Wildfires raging across Southern California have shut a major commuter artery in Los Angeles, suspended filming, wiped out more than $3 billion of market value for regional utility Edison International and are threatening...
AIR Worldwide Updates Hurricane Maria Loss Estimate
Dec 7 2017 // Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide has updated its loss estimates for Hurricane Maria, reporting that insured losses in the Caribbean will be between $27 billion and $48 billion. Losses from Maria in Puerto Rico alone...
California Wildfire Claims Now Top $9.4B, Department of Insurance Says
Dec 6 2017 // California Commissioner Dave Jones announced on Wednesday that total of insured losses from the wildfires in California in October now top $9.4 billion in residential and commercial claims. The latest figure is near the...
RenaissanceRe: $90M Estimated Net Negative Impact from California Wildfires
Dec 6 2017 // RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. said it estimates that losses from the October 2017 California Wildfires will have a net negative impact of $90 million on its fourth quarter 2017 results of operations. The October 2017...
Another California Utility Loses Billions in Value as Wildfire Rages
Dec 6 2017 // Once again, thousands are fleeing a wildfire in California. And, once again, the worry on Wall Street is that a major electric utility might end up on the hook for the damages. Shares of Edison International plunged the...
Pool Re, UK’s Cranfield University Co-Fund Terrorism Risk Mgmt. & Resilience Professorship
Dec 6 2017 // Pool Re and Cranfield University announced the appointment of Professor Andrew Silke as the professor of Terrorism Risk Management and Resilience at Cranfield University. This is a new position that will be co-funded by...
U.S. Flood Program to Collect $1 Billion in Reinsurance for Hurricane Harvey Claims
Dec 6 2017 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is seeking to recover the full $1.042 billion of its reinsurance coverage to help pay the federal flood insurance program’s losses from Hurricane Harvey. Those paid...
La Nina Adds to Wildfire Threat in South Central, Plains States
Dec 4 2017 // Conditions are ripe for winter wildfires from the mid-South through the Great Plains thanks to a combination of weather factors, including the climate phenomenon known as La Nina, that have left a lot of dry growth. In...
Study: North Texas Quakes Spurred on Faults Dormant for 300M Years
Dec 4 2017 // Earthquakes that have swarmed North Texas in recent years occurred on faults awakened by human activity after they had been dormant since dinosaurs roamed the area, according to a new university study. There have been...
California Seeking $4.4B in Federal Aid for Wildfires
Dec 4 2017 // California’s 53 U.S. House members are requesting $4.4 billion in federal aid to help the state recover from its deadliest wildfires ever. That’s down sharply from the $7.4 billion originally sought by Gov....
California Fires Will Add to 2017 Insurer Catastrophe Losses, Fitch Says
Dec 4 2017 // No U.S. reinsurance companies in Fitch Rating’s rated universe are expected to be downgraded as a result of losses from the California wildfires alone, but for a number of companies the impact of wildfire losses adds...
Drone Prompts Diversion of Arkansas Wildfire Surveillance Plane
Dec 1 2017 // Forestry officials diverted a surveillance plane from its assigned path because a drone hovered above a northern Arkansas wildfire, prompting them to caution people that airborne efforts to take unique photographs endanger...
Fallout for PG&E from California Wildfire Could Have Been Limited by Vote
Dec 1 2017 // California regulators rejected a request by a San Diego utility to bill customers for a decade-old wildfire, even as they made clear their decision shouldn’t necessarily be seen as a precedent for last month’s...
Woman Staying in Hotel During Tennessee Wildfires Claims PTSD in Lawsuit
Dec 1 2017 // A Tennessee woman who checked in to a hotel as deadly wildfires raged nearby says in a lawsuit that she was terrified she would die in the hotel and is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder because of the...
Chubb Expects $320 Million in Q4 Catastrophe Losses Including California Wildfires
Nov 30 2017 // Chubb Limited reported a preliminary loss estimate for the fourth quarter from natural catastrophes, including the California wildfires, of approximately $320 million pre-tax, or $249 million after tax. Chubb said its...
Florida’s Hurricane Irma Recovery: The Cost, The Challenges, The Lessons
Nov 30 2017 // The hurricane season is officially over, but it didn’t go by without leaving a major mark on Florida and its insurance industry. Hurricane Irma, a name most in the state won’t soon forget, first hit the Florida...
New Sensors Tracking Earthquakes Across Texas
Nov 29 2017 // Note: This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune. Three years ago, a series of quakes rattled North Texas — and some residents’ nerves. Larry Walden, a Parker County commissioner, remembers a public...
