Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Businesses Push for Terrorism Insurance Vote When Congress Returns
Dec 24 2014 // Lobbyists for insurers, real estate financiers and businesses launched into action last week to urge quick renewal of a terrorism insurance program in 2015 after U.S. lawmakers left it to expire at the end of this...
USI Insurance Services Launches Terrorism Insurance Underwritten by Lloyd’s
Dec 24 2014 // USI Insurance Services has launched a new terrorism insurance product to address the expiring Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (TRIPRA), which ends Dec. 31. Unlike TRIPRA however, USI’s Terrorism...
Prison Sites at Salt Lake City Could Get Hit By Tsunami
Dec 23 2014 // The ground shakes violently and then a wall of salty, brine-shrimp-laden water crashes into the Utah State Prison. The cells of the state’s most dangerous inmates start to flood. Panicked Corrections officers must...
PERILS Posts Final $513.5 Million Loss Estimate on 2013 Windstorm Dirk
Dec 23 2014 // PERILS AG announced that its “fourth and final” loss estimate for windstorm Dirk, which affected the UK and France from 23 to 25 December 2013, is €420 million [$513.5 million] for the property insurance...
10 Years After Disaster, Tsunami Warning System ‘Weaknesses Remain’
Dec 22 2014 // In April 2012, Indonesia’s , the city worst hit by the tsunami that killed at least 226,000 people on Boxing Day ten years ago, received a terrifying reminder of how unprepared it was for the next disaster. As an...
Risk Modelers Aim to Gauge Risks of ‘Cyber Hurricane’
Dec 22 2014 // Even as the Sony Corp. cyber attack laid bare the kinds of vulnerabilities that typically drive companies to buy insurance policies, the lack of a risk model for insurers means such protection is not always easy to...
Fireman’s Fund Timeline: Through Earthquake, Amex and More
Dec 19 2014 // The sale of a Fireman’s Fund unit from Allianz SE to Ace Ltd. stands to further diminish an iconic U.S. insurance brand that dates to the 1800s. The buyer said Thursday that it will integrate the operation, which...
With TRIA Renewal Efforts Killed, Some Predict Market Chaos
Dec 18 2014 // Property/casualty insurance industry groups, business associations and observers alike were quick to condemn the death of TRIA renewal for 2014. Without federal terrorism reinsurance in place for 2015, they predicted...
The CEA Considers a Tax by Any Other Name
Dec 17 2014 // The California Earthquake Authority has a heady legislative agenda on-tap for 2015, and Californians without earthquake insurance coverage could be made to foot the bill. The CEA’s CEO, Glenn Pomeroy, on Wednesday...
Senate Fails to Renew Terrorism Insurance
Dec 17 2014 // A U.S. program that backstops insurance companies’ losses from acts of terrorism is set to end after the Senate didn’t extend it. Efforts to reauthorize the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act for six years fell apart...
Swiss Re sigma 2014 Disaster Insured Loss Estimates = $34 Billion
Dec 17 2014 // According to Swiss Re’s preliminary sigma estimates, total economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters were $113 billion in 2014, down from $135 billion in 2013. Out of the total economic losses,...
EF0 Tornado Reported in Oklahoma
Dec 16 2014 // A small tornado that touched ground briefly in Arcadia, Okla., has been rated an EF0 by the National Weather Service in Norman. Weather service meteorologist Marc Austin said that the tornado caused no damage and appeared...
Terrorism Insurance Bill Tagged with Community Bank Provision
Dec 16 2014 // When the U.S. House of Representatives approved a terrorism insurance bill last week, it contained a little-noticed provision that would require at least one member of the Federal Reserve’s board to have community...
Fannie and Freddie: Proving That Insanity is Good for Business
Dec 15 2014 // Insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result. Even a casual observer of the U.S. economy since its collapse in 2008 is likely familiar with the terms “toxic debt” and...
Senate Expected to Follow House, Approve Terrorism Insurance Renewal
Dec 15 2014 // Supporters of renewing the federal terrorism reinsurance program are optimistic that the Senate will follow the House and approve it, however the exact day and time of the Senate vote this week remains unclear. In addition...
A.M. Best: Global Re Stocks Underperform as Catastrophe Prices Drop
Dec 15 2014 // Stocks for publicly traded reinsurance companies (including the four large European reinsurers) performed well below the overall market through the third quarter of 2014, driven in part by the increased volatility in the...
Weather Service to Deem Tornado-Torn Arkansas County ‘Storm Ready’
Dec 12 2014 // The National Weather Service says it will recognize Faulkner County in Arkansas as a “StormReady” community next week. Forecasters said that with the deaths in last April’s tornado at Mayflower and...
Senator Criticizes ‘Unclean’ Terrorism Insurance Bill Passed by House
Dec 12 2014 // Democratic U.S. Senator Charles Schumer on Thursday called for the U.S. House of Representatives to extend a federal terrorism insurance program by passing a “clean” bill with no controversial extra...
FEMA Provides $3.9M Funds for Tornado Debris Removal in Mississippi
Dec 11 2014 // The city of Louisville and Winston County in Mississippi are being given $3.9 million in federal funds to assist with removal of debris from an April tornado. The money has been approved by the Federal Emergency Management...
Sweeping Upgrades For Quakes Proposed by Los Angeles Mayor
Dec 10 2014 // Mayor Eric Garcetti has proposed spending billions of dollars to better protect Los Angeles against a devastating earthquake by strengthening thousands of vulnerable older buildings and fortifying the city’s water...
