Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Mexico Catastrophe Bond Likely to Pay on Hurricane Patricia’s Losses: S&P
Nov 5 2015 // Bonds sold by Mexico to shield it from the cost of repairing hurricane damage are closer to paying out after the biggest storm ever measured in the Americas struck the country last month, Standard & Poor’s...
A.M. Best Upgrades Issuer Credit Rating of Auto Club Insurance Company of Florida
Nov 5 2015 // A.M. Best has upgraded the issuer credit rating (ICR) to “bbb+” from “bbb” of Auto Club Insurance Company of Florida (ACICF) in Tampa. Concurrently, A.M. Best has affirmed ACICF’s financial...
Wildfires, and Now El Niño May Boost Californian’s Appetites for Surplus Lines
Nov 3 2015 // There’s little question that the drought and the recent wildfire season that it unleashed pushed more California homeowners into the surplus lines market. Now with the onset of what appears to be a strong El Niño...
Kansas Extends Wastewater Injection Limits Until at Least Mid-March
Nov 2 2015 // Oil and gas industry restrictions meant to decrease the frequency and intensity of earthquakes in south-central Kansas will remain in place until at least March 2016, state regulators have decided. The Kansas Corporation...
Death Toll in Storm-Lashed Texas Rises to 6
Nov 2 2015 // The death toll rose to six in Texas as more bodies were recovered on Oct. 31 after another band of strong storms and heavy rain spawned three tornadoes and dangerous flooding in the waterlogged state. It was the second day...
A Landslide of Bad Ideas
Nov 2 2015 // Landslides are a problem for which the United States has yet to come up with an answer. A recent essay by Penn State University law professor Christopher C. French – titled “Insuring Landslides: America’s...
Oklahoma Commissioner to Insurers: Clarify Earthquake Coverage
Nov 2 2015 // In response to questions from consumers about earthquake coverage, Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak is requiring property insurers in the state to issue a clarifying notice of earthquake coverage. In announcing...
99.9 Percent Probability of L.A.-Area Earthquake: Study
Nov 2 2015 // There is a 99.9 percent chance of a magnitude-5 or greater earthquake striking within three years in the greater Los Angeles area, where a similar sized temblor caused more the $12 million in damage last year, according to...
Guy Carpenter Says Wildfire Losses May Exceed $1.75B
Nov 2 2015 // A briefing from Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC in late October shows more than 9 million acres were burned by wildfires so far this year, most of that occurring in the Western U.S, and that insured losses from wildfires...
Wildfires Threat in Texas Increased Over Past 15 Years
Oct 30 2015 // Larger, more threatening wildfires are occurring at greater rates as Texas faces lingering drought, consistent development — driven by millions of new residents and the spread of outlying suburbs — and changes in how...
SBA Offers Low-interest Wildfire Disaster Loans to Washington Businesses
Oct 30 2015 // The U.S. Small Business Administration is offering low-interest disaster loans to Washington businesses, nonprofits and residents affected by the wildfires. The federal agency has declared its own disaster declaration to...
Florida Regulators ‘Encouraged’ by Insurers’ Stress Test Results
Oct 29 2015 // Florida property insurers are well-capitalized and able to handle a 1-in-100 year storm event if and when it occurs in the state, according to the Florida Office of Insurance’s 2015 Data Call and subsequent stress...
Texas’ Population Spread, Wildfires Bring New Era of Firefighting
Oct 29 2015 // A top state fire official says the changing landscape of Texas, driven by millions of new residents and the spread of exurbia, has coincided with an unprecedented wave of large wildfires that are occurring more...
Atlantic Hurricane Season Enters Final Stretch with No-Hit Record Intact
Oct 29 2015 // It has been 10 years since a major hurricane hit the U.S., and as the Atlantic season staggers into its last month, every day that passes seems certain to extend that record streak. Wilma was the last major system,...
West Coast Towns Vulnerable to Tsunamis Consider Ways to Save Lives
Oct 28 2015 // Bracing for a tsunami like the one that devastated Japanese communities during a 2011 mega-earthquake, coastal communities from British Columbia to California have been grappling with how to protect people from a similar...
Earthquake Swarm Around San Francisco Persists
Oct 28 2015 // The U.S. Geological Survey reports that in the last two weeks more than 400 small earthquakes have hit a city east of San Francisco. KNTV reported that the city of San Ramon appears to have broken an earthquake record with...
Celebrities’ Mexican Holiday Homes Pummeled by Hurricane Patricia
Oct 27 2015 // Mexico may have dodged a bullet from the fury of Hurricane Patricia, but jet setters like Bill Gates, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cindy Crawford will have to find a new playground for now after the storm ravaged some of the...
No ‘Significant Losses’ Expected from M7.5 Hindu Kush Quake: AIR Analysis
Oct 27 2015 // According to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide the epicenter the magnitude 7.5 earthquake that struck northeastern Afghanistan yesterday was located in the Hindu Kush mountain range, 45 km (28 miles) north of...
Mexico’s Hurricane Patricia May Hit Catastrophe Bondholders
Oct 27 2015 // Mexico’s natural disaster fund may be $100 million better off at bondholders’ expense after Hurricane Patricia appeared to trigger a catastrophe bond the country sold in 2012. Investors in those notes maturing...
Hurricane Patricia Takes It Relatively Easy on Texas
Oct 26 2015 // Drenching storms that the remnants of Hurricane Patricia dragged into Texas finally cleared on Oct. 25 without leaving behind the death or devastation of torrential rain and floods that hit the state earlier in the...
