Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
S&P Report Warns Reinsurers Not to Ignore Global Impact of Climate Change
Sep 3 2014 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has announced the publication of its annual “Global Reinsurance Highlights” to coincide with the 2014 Reinsurance Rendezvous in September. S&P said the...
‘Worst Market in Memory’ to Keep Pressure on Reinsurance Rates
Sep 3 2014 // The worst reinsurance market in memory looks set to carry into 2015, industry executives said. An absence of costly disasters and increasing competition from new entrants dragged on prices this year, and reinsurers may...
Cyber Attacks on Banks Color Terrorism Insurance Renewal Debate
Sep 1 2014 // Bankers and U.S. officials have warned that cyber-terrorists will try to wreck the financial system’s computer networks. What they aren’t saying publicly is that taxpayers will probably have to cover much of...
Louisiana’s Homeowners Market Stronger 9 Years after Katrina
Aug 29 2014 // Louisiana’s property insurance market is vastly improved nine years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the state on Aug. 29, 2005, largely due to the implementation of statewide building codes and strategies that...
UPDATE: Iceland Lowers Volcano Alert; Small Eruption No Threat to Aviation
Aug 29 2014 // Iceland reduced its aviation warning level to orange on Friday after concluding that a small eruption in the Bardarbunga volcano system that triggered a hours-long red alert actually posed no threat to aircraft. No sign of...
Busy Week for Those Assessing Damage from Napa Quake
Aug 29 2014 // “It’s been a busy week,” said Glen Pomeroy, CEO of the California Earthquake Authority. The magnitude 6.1 earthquake that struck Northern California in the early hours of Aug. 24 may cause up to $4...
Ugly Is Beautiful for Hurricane Forecaster
Aug 29 2014 // When it comes to Atlantic hurricanes, brief and ugly is beautiful, at least to Phil Klotzbach, lead author of Colorado State University’s seasonal storm forecast. That’s because a ragged-looking tropical system...
Mass. DOI: Insurers Received Over 1,300 Claims From Revere Tornado
Aug 27 2014 // The Massachusetts Division of Insurance (DOI) said the state’s insurers have so far received more than 1,300 claims from a rare tornado that ripped through the coastal city of Revere on July 28. The DOI said...
Oklahoma to Require Earthquake Insurance Education for Producers
Aug 27 2014 // Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin has approved an emergency rule adopted by Insurance Commissioner John D. Doak that requires all licensed producers and adjusters with the property line of authority to complete one hour of...
Texas Considers Tougher Rules on Disoposal Wells
Aug 27 2014 // As scientists investigate whether injection wells where the booming oil and gas industry disposes of wastewater cause earthquakes, the Texas agency that oversees oil and gas is proposing a regulatory overhaul. The Texas...
Cleanup from Napa Quake shouldn’t deter tourists, Businesses Say
Aug 27 2014 // Napa, Calif. business owners mopped up high-end vintages that spilled from barrels and bottles and swept away broken glass in the rush to get the tourist hotspot back in shape for the summer’s final holiday weekend...
Hurricane Cristobal to Pass North of Bermuda; No Threat to U.S.
Aug 27 2014 // The most recent report from the National Hurricane Center in Miami, at 5:00 A.M. EDT, notes that Cristobal is now hurricane strength with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph – 130 km/h, and “some strengthening is...
Pacific Hurricane Marie Weakens to Category 1 Storm; No Warnings in Place: NHC
Aug 27 2014 // The most recent report from the National Hurricane Center in Miami, at 8:00 P.M. PDT, indicates that Hurricane Marie is “gradually weakening over colder water.” The storm, located around 1190 kms [740 miles]...
Pacific Hurricane Marie Grows to Category 5 Storm
Aug 26 2014 // Hurricane Marie grew into a large and powerful Category 5 storm and moved west-northwestward far off the Pacific coast of Mexico, threatening dangerous surf conditions from Baja California Peninsula up through Southern...
Vermont Enticing Disaster Preparedness With Money
Aug 25 2014 // Vermont is preparing to implement new rules that encourage communities to take steps to reduce future flood damage in exchange for more money to help them recover from the next big flood. Communities across Vermont have...
Napa Quake May Cost Up to $4 Billion as Wineries Shuttered
Aug 25 2014 // The earthquake that struck northern California yesterday will lead to economic losses of as much as $4 billion, fueled by damaged wineries and shuttered businesses that rely on tourists. Insurers will probably cover about...
Lessons from Napa’s ‘Winequake’
Aug 25 2014 // In the early hours Sunday morning, Northern California shook with the largest earthquake it has experienced since 1989. The South Napa Earthquake, as it is being referred to by the U.S. Geological Survey, was a magnitude...
TS Cristobal – Season’s 3rd Storm – Triggers Caribbean Warnings; No U.S. Threat
Aug 25 2014 // The National Hurricane Center in Miami has finally been able to give the third weather disturbance of the current hurricane season a name – Tropical Storm Cristobal. According to the 5:00 A.M. bulletin from the NHC...
M6.0 Earthquake is California Bay Area’s Strongest Since Loma Prieta
Aug 24 2014 // A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck near Napa, Calif. early Sunday morning is the strongest earthquake to hit the San Francisco Bay area since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which registered a magnitude 6.9, according to...
Hurricane Forecasters Keeping Eye on Storm Building in Atlantic
Aug 22 2014 // A potential tropical system became a bit ragged with poor definition late yesterday as it neared the Leeward Islands at the eastern edge of the Caribbean Sea. A U.S. Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter found a small area of...
