Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California Congressmen Introduce Earthquake Mitigation Tax Incentives
Mar 22 2017 // A pair of Congressmen from California today introduced the Earthquake Mitigation Incentive and Tax Parity Act of 2017 to exclude incentives for residential seismic retrofits from federal taxation. The act was introduced by...
9 Homes Destroyed in Oklahoma Wildfire
Mar 22 2017 // Fire officials are suggesting a blaze that has destroyed at least nine homes in eastern Oklahoma and forced the evacuation of more than 100 others may have been intentionally set. Highway 9 Volunteer Fire Department chief...
Thunderstorms Just as Costly to Insurers as Hurricanes: Study
Mar 22 2017 // Risk to U.S. property from thunderstorms is as high as from hurricanes, according to new research finding that for the past decade, severe convective storms have been the largest annual aggregated risk peril to the U.S....
Wildfire Destroys Homes near Nebraska’s Lake McConaughy
Mar 21 2017 // A fire chief says a wildfire has destroyed at least eight homes and several other buildings near Nebraska’s Lake McConaughy. Keystone Lemoyne Fire & Rescue Fire Chief Ralph Moul said on March 20 that the blaze...
6 Texas Counties Declared Disaster Areas After Wildfires
Mar 20 2017 // Six counties in the Texas Panhandle have been declared disaster areas by Gov. Greg Abbott following the deadly wildfires that swept through the area on March 6 – 7 burning more than 440,000 acres. Abbott’s...
Ranchers in Midwest Assessing Damage After Wildfires
Mar 20 2017 // Thousands of livestock are estimated to have been killed in the wildfire that spanned two counties along Kansas’ southern border in early March, but the actual numbers likely will not be totaled for some time. One...
Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas Wildfires Tracked by New Satellite
Mar 16 2017 // When wildfires scorched more than 1 million acres in early March across parts of the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma and Kansas, forecasters used a new weather satellite to see the infernos developing, almost in real time. The...
20 Kansas Counties Declared Disaster Areas after Wildfires
Mar 16 2017 // Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has signed a final disaster declaration covering 20 counties following last week’s wildfires that burned more than 1,000 square miles of the state. Brownback signed the declaration on March...
Texas’ Costliest Year for Hailstorms Began on March 16, 2016
Mar 16 2017 //
Michigan Raising Auto Insurance Fee for Catastrophic Injuries to $170
Mar 16 2017 // The annual auto insurance fee Michigan drivers pay toward caring for people catastrophically injured in crashes is rising to $170, a $10 increase. The Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association announced the new per-car...
Dolly Parton Fund Aids 921 Tennessee Wildfire Victims
Mar 16 2017 // Dolly Parton’s My People Fund has issued monthly checks to 921 people who lost their homes in deadly wildfires that ravaged East Tennessee last year. The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that Dollywood Foundation...
Forestry Services: Wildfires in Oklahoma, Kansas 42% Contained
Mar 15 2017 // Oklahoma Forestry Services says four wildfires in northwestern Oklahoma and southwestern Kansas are now 42 percent contained, but a high fire danger continues in the region. The agency said that the largest fire is the...
Author of Texas ‘Hailstorm’ Bill Says ‘Significant Changes’ Made
Mar 15 2017 // The Texas Senate Business and Commerce Committee on March 9 heard testimony on a revised bill that aims to limit the number of policyholder lawsuits filed against property insurance companies following severe weather...
Dam at Oregon Lake Being Retrofitted to Withstand Earthquake
Mar 14 2017 // The leaky dam at Hyatt Lake in Oregon is being shored up this summer as part of a $3.7 million seismic retrofit. The Mail Tribune reported the project will bring the dam east of Ashland into safety compliance after a...
Western Kentucky Suffers Damage from 2 Tornadoes
Mar 14 2017 // The National Weather Service says two tornadoes apparently hit far western Kentucky, where transportation officials say roads will reopen overnight. Meteorologist Jim Packett in Paducah says officials surveyed damage in...
6 Texas Counties Declared Disaster Areas Following Wildfires
Mar 13 2017 // Six counties in the Texas Panhandle have been declared disaster areas by Gov. Greg Abbott following the deadly wildfires that swept through the area on March 6 – 7 burning more than 440,000 acres. Abbott’s March 11...
UK’s Terrorism Reinsurer, Pool Re, Plans to Extend Cover to Include Cyber
Mar 13 2017 // Britain’s 6 billion pounds ($7.3 billion) terrorism reinsurance fund hopes to extend its cover to include cyber attacks on property, chief executive Julian Enoizi said. Pool Re, set up in 1993, acts as a backstop to...
Ranchers in Midwest Assessing Damage After Wildfires
Mar 10 2017 // Kansas rancher Greg Gardiner got into some of his scorched pastures for the first time on March 8 and surveyed what he likened to a battle zone: carcasses of dead cattle everywhere. “It’s pretty much a...
Weather Events in U.S., Australia Cost Insurers $1B+ in February: Aon
Mar 9 2017 // Insurers face claims of more than US$1.0 billion as a result of severe weather events in the U.S. and Australia during February, according to a report published by Impact Forecasting, Aon Benfield’s catastrophe model...
Florida’s New ‘Hurricane Hunter’ Base on Schedule for Storm Season
Mar 9 2017 // Officials say they’re on schedule to open the new home base for the U.S. government’s “hurricane hunter” aircraft before the Atlantic hurricane season begins. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric...
