Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
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...
The Anatomy of Terrorism from BBC Correspondent Fergal Keane
Jun 2 2014 // BBC correspondent Fergal Keane, who’s been reporting from the world’s hotspots for 25 years, told delegates in his keynote speech at the recent European Insurance Forum in Dublin that the terrorist mind set,...
Pacific Ocean Is Key to Atlantic Hurricane Season
Jun 2 2014 // The Pacific Ocean holds one of the keys that forecasters say will determine how many hurricanes and tropical storms develop in the Atlantic this year. The size of the six-month storm season, which started June 1, may...
Professional Sports Teams Looking for Terrorism Insurance Win in Congress
Jun 2 2014 // Renewal of a U.S. terrorism insurance plan is gaining momentum in Congress, thanks to some big-league backing from a coalition that includes professional football, baseball, basketball and hockey leagues. The sports...
Flights Resume to Australian City of Darwin as Indonesian Volcano Calms
Jun 2 2014 // Flights resumed to and from Australia’s northernmost city of Darwin on Sunday after they were suspended for more than a day due to clouds of ash from an Indonesian volcano. Friday’s eruption of Sangeang Api...
U.S. Report: Climate Change Here, Deal With It
Jun 2 2014 // Climate change is in the here and now, according to a massive new report. The White House’s National Climate Assessment report is part of President Barack Obama’s effort to prepare the nation for the impacts of...
1 Year Later, Moore Is Study in Resilience
Jun 2 2014 // Just over one year ago, a deadly EF5 tornado ripped through Moore, Okla., making it the third most violent storm in less than 15 years to pummel the small city, which was struck by an EF5 tornado in 1999, and an EF4 in...
California’s Next Mega Fire, This Could Be the Year
Jun 2 2014 // When Thomas Jeffery visits states like California, he likes to take some time out to drive around and take a hard look at the conditions and the landscape. As a scientist, Jeffery feels this helps put first-person...
NOAA: Near- Or Above-Normal Central Pacific Hurricane Season
Jun 2 2014 // Climate conditions point to a near-normal or above-normal hurricane season in the Central Pacific Basin this year with patterns possibly affected by an El Nino weather pattern, NOAA’s Central Pacific Hurricane Center...
Hurricane Forecasts’ Consensus Is for Near-or-Below Normal Season
Jun 2 2014 // In its 2014 Atlantic hurricane season outlook, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center has forecast a near-normal or below-normal season. NOAA said the main driver of this year’s outlook is the anticipated development...
CEA: Policy Sales Spiked Following California March Temblor
May 30 2014 // California Earthquake Authority insurance policy sales jumped following the March 29 magnitude 5.1 La Habra earthquake by nearly as much as the spike in policy sales following the March 11, 2011, magnitude-9.0 Tohoku...
Will the NFIP Survive this Year’s Hurricane Season?
May 30 2014 // This Sunday, June 1, marks the start of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season. And though experts are predicting a relatively quiet one this year, our dutiful representatives in Congress have done their darnedest to ensure...
Weather Service: North Dakota Tornado Was EF-2
May 30 2014 // A rare North Dakota tornado that critically injured a 15-year-old girl and hurt eight other people at a workers’ camp in the heart of the state’s booming oil patch packed winds that peaked at 120 mph, the...
Understanding Wildfire Risk: A Closer Look at the Wildland-Urban Interface
May 30 2014 // This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic. More than 21,500 fires have burned nearly 700,000 acres so far in 2014 (as of May 29, 2014), and these fires have been caused by both lightning strikes and more...
