Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Judge Dismisses Lawsuits Claiming Facebook Liable for Supporting Terrorists
May 18 2017 // A federal judge on Thursday dismissed two lawsuits seeking to hold Facebook Inc. liable for supporting terrorist groups by letting them use its social media platform to further their goals, including violence against...
Tornadoes Leave at Least 2 Dead as Storms Pummel Central U.S.
May 18 2017 // Storms whipped through a wide swath of the nation’s midsection, giving rise to tornadoes that flattened a Wisconsin mobile home park and an Oklahoma subdivision and killing at least two people and injuring dozens of...
PERILS Releases European Windstorm Catalogue (1979-2015)
May 18 2017 // PERILS, the independent Zurich-based organization that provides industry-wide catastrophe insurance data, has released a storm catalogue containing the gust footprints of more than 200 of the largest European windstorms...
Number of Florida Wildfires Tops 2,100 So Far This Year
May 18 2017 // State officials say 170,000 acres in Florida have burned from wildfires since the start of the year. Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam said that more than 127 active fires were burning in Florida as of...
Eastern Pacific Hurricane Season Starts Off Slowly
May 18 2017 // The eastern Pacific hurricane season is starting off with a whimper. While one short-lived tropical storm developed off Mexico’s Pacific coast last week, the earliest on record, computer models show another one...
Texas ‘Hailstorm’ Litigation Bill Headed to Governor’s Desk
May 17 2017 // Legislation backed by the insurance industry and some Texas business groups that curtails the ability of policyholders to sue insurance companies over property claims following extreme weather events has passed the state...
6 Critical Wildfire Preparation Recommendations
May 17 2017 // This morning while I’m sitting in my office writing this post, I’m thinking about wildfires. According to the ArcGIS website, there are 24 active wildfires in the US. 17 of them are in the state of Florida....
Dozen Earthquakes Reported in Oklahoma, Including a 4.2 Mag
May 16 2017 // Two small earthquakes recorded in Oklahoma by the U.S. Geological Survey bring to a dozen the number of temblors recorded in the state during the weekend. A 2.9 magnitude quake was recorded at 2:24 a.m. Sunday near Red...
Mississippi Gov Seeks Federal Tornado Aid for End of April Outbreak
May 16 2017 // Residents of Holmes and Montgomery counties in Mississippi could get federal help following April 30 tornadoes, if Gov. Phil Bryant gets his way. Bryant on Thursday officially asked that President Donald Trump declare a...
Evacuation Order Lifted for Georgia Residents Near Okefenokee Wildfire
May 16 2017 // A mandatory evacuation order has been lifted for two south Georgia towns threatened for days last week by a wildfire that had spread outside the boundaries of the neighboring Okefenokee swamp. Authorities say evacuation...
Weather Service Confirms Tornado Touchdown in Owasso, Oklahoma
May 15 2017 // Forecasters say a tornado that hit near Tulsa on May 11 had a preliminary ranking of EF1 with wind speeds of 90 mph to 100 mph. The National Weather Service in Tulsa says more surveys are underway to determine whether any...
Study: Expected Increase in Tornadoes Raises Risk to Mobile Homes
May 15 2017 // Tornadoes and mobile homes don’t mix to begin with, but throw in the volatility of climate change and the potential for massive property damage and deaths is even higher in coming decades, indicates a new study by...
Regulators in California Hit PG&E with $8.3M Fine for Deadly Wildfire
May 15 2017 // Regulators say they have fined Pacific Gas and Electric Co. $8.3 million for failing to maintain a power line that sparked a massive blaze in Northern California that destroyed 549 homes and killed two people. The...
Earthquake Authority Creates Online Home Vulnerability Evaluator
May 15 2017 // The California Earthquake Authority has created an online tool to help home inspection specialists evaluate a house’s vulnerability to earthquake damage. The online tool, QuakeGrade, uses information entered by an...
Study: Expected Increase in Tornadoes Raises Risk to Mobile Homes
May 15 2017 // Tornadoes and mobile homes don’t mix to begin with, but throw in the volatility of climate change and the potential for massive property damage and deaths is even higher in coming decades, indicates a new study by...
Insurance Industry-Backed Storm Damage Bill Passes Texas House
May 15 2017 // The passage in the Texas House of a bill limiting liability for property insurance companies sued by policyholders following weather related events has given the insurance industry, which lobbied strongly for the bill,...
How a Border-Adjustment Tax Would Hurt Louisiana’s Insurance Market
May 12 2017 // Louisiana already has some of the highest property insurance rates in the nation. But they could creep higher still—an estimated $1.11 billion higher over the next decade—should congressional tax-reform efforts limit...
Wisconsin Under State of Emergency for Wildfire Danger
May 12 2017 // Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has declared a state of emergency as the state faces heightened wildfire conditions. Walker issued an executive order directing all state agencies to assist with potential wildfire response and...
Bermuda Re/Insurers Hit by Ogden Rate Change, Higher Nat Cats: S&P
May 12 2017 // A big change in the Ogden rate in the UK and higher natural catastrophe losses are dampening a wide range of Bermuda-based insurer and reinsurer results in the 2017 first quarter, Standard & Poor’s said in a new...
Evacuations Continue in Georgia Wildfire Zone But Many Defy Orders
May 10 2017 // Jessica Boldin and her family evacuated 15 horses, six dogs and other animals from their ranch in rural Georgia as a vast wildfire emerging from the Okefenokee Swamp blackened trees behind their home. Flames that pushed...
