Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
North Carolina to Receive $198M in Federal Grant for Hurricane Matthew Relief
Feb 1 2017 // North Carolina has been officially awarded nearly $200 million from the federal government for Hurricane Matthew relief that Congress approved last month in a larger spending agreement. Gov. Roy Cooper’s office says...
Mississippi Estimates More Than $1M in Timber Damaged by Tornado
Jan 31 2017 // More than $1 million worth of timber was destroyed by the tornado that hit Lamar, Forrest and Perry counties. The Mississippi Forestry Commission announced the estimate Friday based on aerial damage assessments. The...
ARC, Topa Insurance Launch Coverage for Post-Hurricane Losses in Florida
Jan 31 2017 // Topa Insurance Co. has formed an exclusive partnership with Assured Risk Cover (ARC) to launch StormPeace, an insurance product in Florida designed to protect insureds from economic loss incurred by a named hurricane and...
Georgia Insurance Department to Hold Claims Village in Albany for Tornado Victims
Jan 30 2017 // Georgia Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens will host a Catastrophe Claims Village in Albany, on Tuesday, Jan. 31, and Wednesday, Feb. 1, according to a statement from the Georgia Department of Insurance. The purpose of...
Wildfires in Central Oklahoma Destroy Homes, Damage Structures
Jan 26 2017 // Authorities say at least two homes were destroyed in a fast-moving wildfire that burned in central Oklahoma on Tuesday. Wildfires, fueled by dry vegetation and strong winds, also damaged or destroyed other structures in...
California Homeowner Registration Starts for 2017 Brace + Bolt Program
Jan 26 2017 // The 2017 Earthquake Brace + Bolt program opened registration this week for $6 million in grants for seismic retrofits. This represents a 25 percent increase in funding over last year to help California homeowners protect...
Mississippi, Georgia Commissioners Call on Industry to Assist Residents Affected by Tornadoes
Jan 26 2017 // Insurance commissioners in Mississippi and Georgia, two of several Southeast states hit over the weekend by devestating tornadoes that damaged thousands of homes and caused millions of dollars in insured losses, are...
31 Houses Damaged or Destroyed by Tornadoes in Louisiana
Jan 25 2017 // Authorities say tornadoes destroyed or damaged 31 houses and RVs in Louisiana last weekend: 29 in the northwest near Plain Dealing, and two in the Natchitoches Parish town of Natchez. Officials say nobody was seriously...
Cat Bond Issuance in 2017 Could Approach Record Levels: Aon Report
Jan 25 2017 // Total catastrophe bond issuance for calendar year 2016 reached US$5.8 billion – a decrease from US$6.9 billion in 2015 – principally due to ongoing competitive re/insurance market conditions, according to an Aon...
Mississippi Tornado Damaged At Least 1,100 Homes
Jan 25 2017 // A tornado that tore a 31-mile path across south Mississippi over the weekend killed four people and damaged or destroyed more than 1,100 homes, state officials said Monday, as the governor assured residents that federal...
39 Possible Tornadoes Devastate Southeast, Leave 19 Dead
Jan 24 2017 // Chuck Stafford was watching the Atlanta Falcons rout the Green Bay Packers for the NFC title when bad weather suddenly began to pound his mobile home in southern Georgia. Stafford, 74, had just gotten to head to the...
1/1 Renewals Saw Some Price Stabilization, Record Capital, Demand Uptick: JLT Re
Jan 24 2017 // The challenging operating environment confronting reinsurers has led to some price stabilization at the Jan. 1, 2017 renewals, as they face the reality of deteriorating results and margin compression, according to JLT Re...
Why Are Large-Scale Tornado Outbreaks Increasing in U.S.?
Jan 24 2017 // The frequency of large-scale tornado outbreaks is increasing in the United States, particularly when it comes to the most extreme events, according to research recently published in Science. The study by researchers...
Death Toll Climbs From Weekend Tornadoes Across Southeast
Jan 23 2017 // A weekend of deadly weather in the Southeast killed at least 15 people and injured dozens more, authorities said Sunday morning, while residents along the Georgia-Florida line braced for more intense, fast-moving storms...
Arkansas Had More than 1,200 Wildfires Last Year
Jan 23 2017 // Arkansas forestry officials say 2016 was a relatively quiet year for wildfires, but the fires still burned nearly 30 square miles in the state. The Arkansas Forestry Commission says there was a total of 1,248 wildfires...
Tornadoes, Hurricanes and Fires… Oh My! Southeast Weathers Tough 2016
Jan 23 2017 // It is fair to say 2016 was the year of the catastrophe in the Southeast. Tornadoes, drought, floods, hurricanes and wildfires impacted virtually every state in the region. For the insurance industry, these events made for...
Top Global Corporate Risks: Business Interruption, Market Developments, Cyber, Current Events and More
Jan 23 2017 // Business interruption is a top global corporate risk for the fifth year in a row. But worries about Brexit and the new U.S. President Donald Trump also made the list of companies’ 2017 fears and uncertainties in a...
Oklahoma Earthquakes, Saltwater Disposal Volumes Decline
Jan 23 2017 // Recent reports show that disposal well operators placed about 23 percent less saltwater into Oklahoma’s deepest geological formation within the earthquake zone in 2016 compared to the previous year. In addition,...
Mississippi Tornado Kills 4, Causes At Least $200M in Insured Damage
Jan 23 2017 // Rain was pouring down in the pre-dawn darkness, and the wind was picking up as Darryl McMorris ran for his daughters’ bedroom. The windows started blowing out as he dove on top of his girls, grabbing one under each...
Tennessee Wildfire Insurance Claims Top $842M
Jan 23 2017 // State officials say insurance claims have topped $842 million in the deadly eastern Tennessee wildfires that burned thousands of buildings. The Knoxville News Sentinel reported the number, provided the Tennessee Department...
