Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Tennessee Twisters Total 19 in 2015, Lowest Since 2007
Jan 11 2016 // Weather officials say 19 tornadoes touched down in Tennessee last year, marking the state’s lowest total since 2007. The National Weather Service said one tornado struck the state in April and two touched down in May...
Preliminary Insured Loss Estimate from Texas Tornadoes: $1.2B
Jan 11 2016 // Texas is dealing with approximately $1.2 billion in insured losses so far from nine confirmed tornadoes that struck the Dallas metro area on Dec. 26, 2015, and killed 11 people, according to preliminary estimates from the...
Dallas-Area Tornadoes Account for a Big Chunk of December Insured Losses in U.S.
Jan 7 2016 // A recently released report shows that damage estimates from the natural disaster events that occurred in the United States in December 2015 will amount to more than $4 billion. Aon Benfield’s catastrophe model...
A.M. Earthquake Jolted Parts of Southern California
Jan 7 2016 // An early morning earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.5 shook the inland region of Southern California, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS says the quake occurred at 6:42 a.m. Wednesday and was...
Oklahoma Orders Reduction in Wastewater Disposal after Quakes
Jan 6 2016 // The state commission that regulates Oklahoma’s oil and natural gas industry on Jan. 4 ordered some injection well operators to reduce wastewater disposal volumes after at least a dozen earthquakes hit an area north...
Capital Stabilizes, Prices Keep Softening During Jan. 1 Renewals: Guy Carpenter
Jan 6 2016 // Reinsurance capital levels stabilized during the Jan. 1, 2016 renewals – showing no growth for the first time in several years – and prices continued to soften, according to Guy Carpenter & Co.’s global...
Preliminary Data: Kansas Saw Big Increase in Tornadoes in 2015
Jan 6 2016 // Kansas’ 124 confirmed tornadoes in 2015 were 83 more than the previous year, tying for the fourth highest number since 1990, according to the National Weather Service’s preliminary data. Eric Metzger, a...
Magnitude 6.7 Earthquake Jolts India, Bangladesh: AIR Worldwide
Jan 5 2016 // A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hit northeast India near its border with Myanmar and Bangladesh on Jan. 4 at 4:35 a.m. local time, about 29 kilometers (18 miles) northwest of Imphal, the capital of Manipur state, according to...
Tennessee Records 19 Tornadoes in 2015
Jan 5 2016 // Weather officials say 19 tornadoes touched down in Tennessee last year, marking the state’s lowest total since 2007. The National Weather Service said one tornado struck the state in April and two touched down in May...
6 Forecasts for P/C Insurance in 2016
Jan 4 2016 // Some, but not all, experts see an improving U.S. economy in 2016 helping to boost the property/casualty (P/C) insurance sector. Some of these prognosticators are more optimistic than others. But most also anticipate...
Small Earthquake Shakes Parts of New Jersey, New York
Jan 4 2016 // Scientists say a small earthquake has hit in northern New Jersey. The U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude-2.07 quake hit just before 1 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 2, roughly 2 miles northwest of Ringwood, New Jersey....
El Niño Helped Reduce Natural Catastrophe Losses in 2015: Munich Re
Jan 4 2016 // Insurers paid out around $27 billion for natural disaster claims last year with weather causing 94 percent of incidents, underscoring the challenge posed by climate change, data from reinsurer Munich Re showed on...
‘Average’ Would Describe Wyoming Wildfire Season, Forester Says
Dec 31 2015 // Wyoming firefighters put out a typical number of wildfires in 2015 despite a surge in blazes nationwide. The Casper Star-Tribune reported that Wyoming state forester Bill Crapser says the state’s weather...
China Anti-Terrorism Law Raises Implementation Concerns: European Chamber
Dec 31 2015 // The vague wording of China’s new counter-terrorism law raises concerns about how telecommunications carriers and network service providers will be expected to implement the regulations in practice, the European...
‘Couldn’t Stand the Weather’ Sums Up South Central News in 2015
Dec 30 2015 // If you scan the song/album list of the late, great Texas blues guitar powerhouse, Stevie Ray Vaughan, you’ll get an inkling of what the major stories from Insurance Journal’s South Central region in 2015 were...
Insured Loss Estimate from Texas Tornadoes at $1.2B, So Far
Dec 30 2015 // Texas is dealing with approximately $1.2 billion in insured losses so far from nine confirmed tornadoes that struck the metro-Dallas area on Dec. 26 and killed 11 people, according to preliminary estimates from the...
California Earthquake Authority’s 2016 Changes Aim to Increase Policy Count
Dec 29 2015 // It’s about the closest thing to DIY earthquake insurance as one can get, though there’s definitely no indication that the newest consumer-friendly features being rolled out by the California Earthquake...
Southeast Continues to Get Hammered by Strong Storms, Tornadoes
Dec 29 2015 // Forecasters at the National Weather Service in Mobile, Ala., say a tornado was reported in Molino in northwest Florida on Monday. The line of strong thunderstorms also moved into storm-battered Alabama on Monday, bringing...
Texas Tornadoes, Midwest Flooding Leave at Least 24 Dead
Dec 29 2015 // At least 11 people died and dozens were injured in strong tornadoes that swept through the Dallas area and caused substantial damage this weekend, while 13 people died in flooding in the Midwest. It was the latest of a...
AIR Worldwide: At Least 9 Tornadoes in North Texas; Extent of Damage Not Yet Known
Dec 29 2015 // Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide reported that the huge storm system that impacted the United States from New Mexico to Michigan and Georgia over the Christmas holiday weekend delivered at least nine tornadoes in...
