Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Property Damage Prompts Search for Signs of Houston-Area Tornadoes
Jan 11 2012 // National Weather Service teams are surveying parts of the Houston area to determine if tornadoes are responsible for damage to homes and a suburban shopping mall. Some roads flooded and nearly 20,000 Houston-area residents...
RiskMeter.com Adds Texas Wildfire Report to Service
Jan 11 2012 // RiskMeter.com, a provider of real-time natural hazard risk reports, has added a Texas wildfire report to its service. This report will return a property’s proximity to wildfire risk by simply entering an address or...
Aon Benfield 2011 Catastrophe Study: $107 Bn Insured Losses; $435 Bn Economic
Jan 10 2012 // Aon Benfield, the global reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor of Aon Corp, has issued its “Annual Global Climate and Catastrophe Report,” which aggregates and analyses the natural disaster perils that...
2012 Brings Operational Changes for Texas Windstorm Insurer
Jan 10 2012 // The New Year ushered in changes to the operation of Texas’s insurance company of last resort for wind and hail along the Texas coast. Many of the operational changes will affect insurance agents who handle Texas...
Earthquake Rumbles North Of Anchorage
Jan 9 2012 // A small earthquake rumbled in Alaska that was felt in several small communities north of Anchorage. The U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude 4.0 temblor struck shortly before 10 p.m. Saturday and was centered about...
Windstorm Andrea, First of 2012, Causes Damage in Europe: AIR Report
Jan 9 2012 // According to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide, Windstorm Andrea passed through the U.K. earlier this week, fast on the heels of Windstorm Ulli, which brought widespread travel and power disruptions to Scotland. The...
Oklahoma’s Commissioner Doak Had a Full Plate in 2011
Jan 9 2012 // In his first year as insurance commissioner of Oklahoma, John Doak was a busy man. Doak and the agency he leads had their hands full implementing reforms in the workers’ compensation system, dealing with a host of...
Despite Losses, Insurers Not Hiking Prices Broadly
Jan 9 2012 // Despite more than $100 billion in disaster losses around the world this year, insurers are not yet experiencing a broad and sustained increase in pricing power, defying predictions from a year ago that even half those...
Wishing You a Happy New Year
Jan 9 2012 // The year 2011 is now behind us — and what a year it was for the P/C insurance industry. There were many headlines. But it will be remembered mostly for record-high catastrophe losses. In May, we saw a tornado that ripped...
Conn. Updates Coastal Underwriting Guidelines
Jan 9 2012 // Connecticut insurance department amended its coastal underwriting guidelines last month to clarify when hurricane deductibles can be applied. Regulators have been working on making the changes in the wake of criticisms...
Crews Gaining Ground on Blackfeet Reservation Wildfires in Montana
Jan 6 2012 // A pair of wildfires fueled by strong wind gusts that burned buildings and forced the evacuation of hundreds on Montana’s Blackfeet Indian Reservation were helped by milder weather conditions on Thursday as...
Insurance Veterans’ Forecasts for 2012
Jan 5 2012 // Now that the year 2011 is behind us, let’s take a look at what might be ahead. Insurance Journal spoke with leading industry professionals and asked them what they are expecting this year. If their forecasts are any...
Windstorm Ulli is Latest to Batter Northwest Europe; AIR Analysis
Jan 5 2012 // Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide’s report on Windstorm Ulli notes that it is “passing through Scandinavia and is expected to dissipate as it moves over the Baltic Sea today. “A class 2 weather...
Earthquakes Prompt Record Insurance Claims in 2011
Jan 4 2012 // Insurance industry damage claims from natural disasters like the earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand reached a record $105 billion in 2011, Munich Re , the world’s biggest reinsurer, said on Wednesday. The cost to...
Kansas County Looking into Earthquake Insurance
Jan 3 2012 // Shawnee County, Kan., commissioners have authorized the county’s insurance broker to look into the cost of earthquake insurance. The topic came up at a recent commission briefing on new quotes for property,...
Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake Strikes off Japan Coast
Jan 3 2012 // A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.0 struck under the sea several hundred miles (kilometers) south of Japan on Sunday, shaking buildings in the capital, but officials said there was no danger of a...
Alabama Insurance Claims for Tornadoes Top $2 Billion
Jan 3 2012 // Insurers have paid at least $2.2 billion claims arising from the April tornado outbreak in Alabama, authorities said. More than 2,500 claims are still pending eight months after the storms, The Birmingham News...
Injection Wells Shut Down After 4.0 Earthquake in Ohio
Jan 3 2012 // Officials said they believe the latest earthquake activity in northeast Ohio is related to the injection of wastewater into the ground near a fault line, creating enough pressure to cause seismic activity. The brine...
Tornado Causes $1.8M Damage to Georgia Businesses
Jan 2 2012 // A week after a tornado struck northwest Georgia, an examination of damage has resulted in losses estimated at $1.82 million in the Rome area. Floyd County Emergency Management Agency Director Scotty Hancock said two-thirds...
Alaskan Volcano Put on Alert
Dec 30 2011 // An explosion at a volcano in Alaska caused the U.S. Geological Survey to put out an alert. USGS detected a drifting ash cloud at the Cleveland Volcano, which is on an uninhabited island in the east central Aleutian...
