Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Update: Hurricane Sandy Could Affect 50 Million People on East Coast
Oct 28 2012 // Authorities shut transit systems and ordered some evacuations as tens of millions of people on the East Coast braced on Sunday for Hurricane Sandy, a gigantic storm forecast to deliver battering winds, dangerous flooding...
Update: Hurricane Sandy Death Toll at 41; ‘Super Storm’ Eyes East Coast
Oct 26 2012 // Hurricane Sandy, a late-season Atlantic storm unlike anything seen in more than two decades, slogged slowly toward the U.S. East Coast on Friday after killing at least 41 people as it cut across the Caribbean. Forecasters...
Get Ready for Hurricane Sandy, Regulators Warn New England Residents
Oct 26 2012 // Vermont insurance regulators are advising New England residents to get ready for Hurricane Sandy, which could hit the U.S. eastern seaboard early next week. Regulators are reminding residents of the destruction suffered...
Hurricane Sandy Leaves 21 Dead in Caribbean
Oct 26 2012 // Hurricane Sandy pounded the Bahamas with battering winds and rain on Friday, sweeping over the island chain after killing 21 people across the Caribbean and posing a menacing threat to the U.S. East Coast. Forecasters...
Hurricane Sandy Could Cause More Damage Than Irene: Experts
Oct 25 2012 // As Hurricane Sandy makes its way toward the eastern seaboard of the United States, disaster experts and meteorologists warn that the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states face dangerous winds and heavy rains that could...
Major Hurricane Sandy -Frankenstorm- Threatens East Coast
Oct 25 2012 // Hurricane Sandy swelled into a major threat to much of the U.S. East Coast on Thursday after lashing Cuba with heavy rains and tree-toppling winds and swirling through the Bahamas, U.S. forecasters said. Strengthening...
2012 Fire Season Among Worst On Record In Wyoming
Oct 25 2012 // This year’s wildfire season was among the most destructive on record in Wyoming, with as many as 1,400 wildfires charring more than a half-million acres, state forester Bill Crapser said. Normally Wyoming will see...
Hurricane Sandy Strengthens to Category 2: RMS
Oct 25 2012 // Sandy has strengthened to a strong category 2 hurricane prior to landfall on the Cuban coast, after crossing over Jamaica as a cat 1 hurricane. The system is forecast to remain a hurricane (cat 1) as it passes through the...
Tropical Storm Sandy Still on Hurricane Track; Tony Is Season’s 19th Storm: RMS
Oct 24 2012 // According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), as of Wednesday, the center of Tropical Storm Sandy was located over the Caribbean Sea about 160 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica and 315 miles south-southwest of...
Tropical Storm Sandy on Track to Become Hurricane
Oct 23 2012 // Late Monday, Sandy became the eighteenth named storm of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season. According to the National Hurricane Center, Sandy is expected to strengthen during the next 24 hours and become a hurricane on...
Hiscox Names Dixon to Head Catastrophe Research; Adds 2 Reinsurance Trainees
Oct 23 2012 // London-based Hiscox has appointed Dr. Richard Dixon as its group head of Catastrophe Research. In addition, Hiscox expanded its London market reinsurance team with the recruitment of Jonathan Lord and Nick Orton as trainee...
Lower Catastrophe Losses, Better Rate Environment Increase P/C Net Income: A.M. Best
Oct 22 2012 // The U.S. property/casualty industry’s underwriting and operating performance improved substantially in the first half of 2012 according to a special report by A.M. Best Co. Catastrophe losses, while remaining...
Alaska Setting For Japanese Documentary On Tsunami
Oct 22 2012 // A Japanese broadcasting group is filming a documentary about tsunami debris in Kodiak, Alaska this week. NHK, Japan’s national public broadcasting station, is filming a documentary about tsunami debris in Alaska to...
Falling Trees: Act of God or Covered Event?
Oct 22 2012 // Another Atlantic hurricane season is nearing its official end on Nov. 30, but the peak activity period of August to October is largely complete. While it has been an active season in terms of named storms, only a few have...
Louisiana Citizens: Claims from Hurricane Isaac 85% Settled
Oct 22 2012 // Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. reported as of Oct. 15 it has received 17,059 claims from Hurricane Isaac. Ninety-seven percent of those claims have been inspected by company adjusters and 85 percent have been...
Attorney: Catastrophic Weather Slamming Oklahoma Property Market
Oct 22 2012 // Property insurance claims in Oklahoma totaled $1.6 billion in 2011, according to one attorney familiar with the property insurance market in that state. Much of that was the result of catastrophic weather conditions that...
Homeowners Insurance Claims Cost Rising Rapidly, Study Says
Oct 22 2012 // The cost of homeowners insurance claims has been rising rapidly because of the combined effects of rising claim severity and increases in claim frequency, according to an insurance industry report. A recent Insurance...
Assessing Tropical Cyclone Risk in Hawaii Through the Lens of Hurricane Iniki
Oct 22 2012 // Hurricane Risk in the Central Pacific Basin Twenty years ago, the most powerful storm to strike the Hawaiian Islands in recorded history made landfall on the island of Kauai on Sept. 11, 1992. With sustained winds of 140...
‘Big One’ Looms in Minds of Experts Before California ShakeOut
Oct 18 2012 // A day before more than 9 million people in California took part in a massive nationwide earthquake drill on Thursday, U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones stood in a room full of risk professionals in the San...
Earthquake in Maine Rattles New England States
Oct 18 2012 // The earthquake that rattled southern Maine was felt in New England states as far away as Connecticut, but caused no apparent damage or injuries. Patrons of a pizza parlor near the epicenter of Tuesday’s quake...
