Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Tornado Touchdown Confirmed In Southeast Wyoming
Jun 12 2014 // A tornado touched down in a sparsely populated area of Laramie County in southeast Wyoming on Sunday, the National Weather Service has confirmed. NWS says the tornado touched down around 1 p.m. about 7 miles east of...
Hurricane Forecasts Good News for Already-Stable P/C Insurers: Fitch
Jun 12 2014 // Early forecasts for the 2014 hurricane season indicate that moderate El Nino conditions are likely to persist throughout the year, which could inhibit tropical storm formation in the North Atlantic basin. This could also...
Active Season for West Pacific: AccuWeather 2014 Typhoon Forecast
Jun 12 2014 // The AccuWeather Global Weather Center has issued a forecast for the 2014 West Pacific typhoon season, which anticipates “near-normal numbers.” The forecast also noted, however, that “the onset of El Niño...
Oklahoma Firm: Blanket Provides Protection from Tornado Debris, Bullets
Jun 10 2014 // An Oklahoma company has created a protective blanket that developers say could give children a better chance of surviving debris from a tornado – or bullets from a 9 mm handgun. The Bodyguard Blanket, made by...
Officials: Tornado in Western Iowa Causes Damage in Oakland
Jun 9 2014 // Weather officials say a strong tornado touched down last week in western Iowa’s Pottawattamie County. The National Weather Service says investigators surveying debris concluded an EF-2 tornado landed June 3 about...
Hailstorm Pummels Hundreds of Vehicles in South Dakota
Jun 9 2014 // Sioux Falls, S.D., auto body shops are in for a busy summer after a storm that pelted the metro area with pea- to golf ball-size hail, damaging hundreds of vehicles. No injuries were immediately reported from the afternoon...
One Catastrophe Won’t Scare Away Alternative Capital: S&P Panelists
Jun 9 2014 // Catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities (ILS) issuance have surged to record levels this year thanks to the continuing influx of alternative capital into the reinsurance market, leaving credit analysts and...
Aon Benfield May Cat Report Highlights ‘Severe Weather’ in the U.S.
Jun 6 2014 // Impact Forecasting, the catastrophe model development center of excellence at Aon Benfield, has released the latest edition of its monthly Global Catastrophe Recap report, which reviews the natural disaster perils that...
Alaskan Volcano’s Alert Level Reduced to Orange
Jun 5 2014 // Rumblings under Alaska’s Pavlof Volcano have diminished, but scientists are keeping an eye on the state’s most active volcano in case it sends up another ash cloud. The volcano sent an ash plume to 22,000 feet...
Midwest Hit by Damaging Hail Storms, Tornadoes
Jun 5 2014 // Baseball-sized hail pummeled homes and cars in Nebraska and Iowa on June 2 as powerful thunderstorms moved through a swath of Midwest states, also causing severe flooding and prompting reports of tornadoes. The National...
Female-Named Hurricanes More Deadly But Less Feared
Jun 5 2014 // Which scares you more: Hurricane Victor or Hurricane Victoria? People are slightly less likely to flee an oncoming storm with a feminine name than a masculine one, a new study finds. But here is Victoria’s secret:...
Revised PERILS’ Loss Estimate from Windstorm Xaver Exceeds $1 Billion
Jun 5 2014 // PERILS AG has released its third loss estimate for windstorm Xaver, a storm which affected Western and Northern Europe on December 5-6, 2013. Windstorm Xaver is also known as Sinterklaasstorm in the Netherlands, Bodil in...
Senate Committee Advances Terrorism Insurance Renewal
Jun 3 2014 // The U.S. Senate Banking Committee approved a legislation that would extend for seven years the government’s financial backstop of terrorism insurance. The panel approved by a 22-0 vote a bipartisan bill that would...
Wildfire Publicity Lights Fire Under California Homeowners
Jun 3 2014 // The recent plague of wildfires in Southern California and in neighboring states seems to have more people checking on their homeowners policies – and more people concerned about the threat of wildfires may be taking some...
Texas Windstorm Insurer’s Financial Outlook Improved as Hurricane Season Starts
Jun 3 2014 // Low catastrophe activity and claims experience so far this year have helped to put Texas’ insurer of last resort for properties along the Gulf Coast in a better position to face the 2014 hurricane season than it has...
Rhode Island Officials Remind Residents to Be Prepared for Hurricane Season
Jun 3 2014 // Rhode Island officials are urging residents to prepare for hurricane season. Gov. Lincoln Chafee says three to six hurricanes are expected to affect the Atlantic Coast this year and that people should take steps to be...
Hurricane Forecast Upped By 1 Over Weaker El Nino
Jun 3 2014 // Colorado State University increased the number of storms it expects to develop during the Atlantic hurricane season to 10 from nine. The forecast calls for four of those to become hurricanes, one of them a major system,...
Nearly $110M Damages From Colorado Hail, Wind, Flooding in May
Jun 2 2014 // Hail, wind and flooding in May caused an estimated $109.3 million in insured losses resulting from 28,442 auto and homeowners insurance claims filed, an insurance group reported on Monday. The damage estimates include...
Virginia Bureau of Insurance Offers Hurricane Preparedness Tips
Jun 2 2014 // Sunday, June 1, marked the official start of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season, and Virginia’s Bureau of Insurance is encouraging consumers to ensure that they have the insurance coverage they need and to develop a...
Best Upgrades State Farm General’s ICR; Affirms State Farm and Subs FSR’s
Jun 2 2014 // A.M. Best has upgraded the issuer credit rating (ICR) to “a+” from “a” and affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A’ (Excellent) of State Farm General Insurance Company, and...
