Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Insured Losses from Hurricane Irene in Carolinas Could Reach $400 Million
Aug 28 2011 // Hurricane Irene caused between $200 million and $400 million in insured losses in the Carolinas, catastrophe modeling company Eqecat said on Sunday. At 7:30 a.m. ET Saturday, Aug. 27, Irene made its first landfall just...
Insurance Industry Mobilizes for Hurricane Irene Claims
Aug 26 2011 // In addition to advising their policyholders on what to do to protect against Hurricane Irene, property/casualty insurers and brokers are themselves taking precautions—and positioning their claims teams for the...
Hurricane Irene Update: 50 Million People Could Be Affected
Aug 26 2011 // Parts of the southeastern United States were already experiencing dangerous swells and rip tides Thursday as Hurricane Irene exited the Bahamas. On Friday afternoon, ahead of Hurricane Irene’s forecasted arrival in...
Is ‘Old’ East Coast Prepared For a Powerful Earthquake?
Aug 26 2011 // There was a crack in the Washington Monument, and capstones were broken at the National Cathedral. In the District of Columbia suburbs, some people stayed in shelters because of structural concerns at their apartment...
Northeast Likely to Suffer Significant Damage from Irene
Aug 26 2011 // Hurricane Irene is likely to cause more insured losses in the Bahamas than 1999’s devastating Hurricane Floyd, catastrophe modeler AIR Worldwide said Thursday, even as the storm increasingly tracks toward a weekend...
East Coast Cities, Resorts Prepare for Irene
Aug 26 2011 // North Carolina braced Friday for a direct hit from Hurricane Irene, cities along the U.S. east coast were on alert and millions of beach goers cut short vacations to escape the powerful storm. With more than 50 million...
Irene Causes Extensive Property Damage on Smaller Islands in the Bahamas
Aug 26 2011 // Large and powerful Hurricane Irene roared across the Bahamas archipelago on Wednesday, knocking down trees and destroying homes on a path that officials said posed the greatest threat to the country’s smaller,...
East Coast Earthquake: Fear, Damage Mixed with Relief, Teasing
Aug 26 2011 // For a few minutes from Georgia to Maine, the question rang out: What was that? The answer — a rare East Coast earthquake, magnitude 5.8 — was far down on the list for most not used to the earth shaking beneath them. In...
Insurance to Pay Part of Joplin Schools’ $30M Tornado Cost
Aug 25 2011 // The Joplin School Board has begun paying the massive bills caused by destruction from the May 22 tornado. The school board approved payment of nearly $30 million for the month of July and about half of August. The...
Colorado Jostled with Earthquake Aftershocks
Aug 25 2011 // Colorado has been jostled with 13 aftershocks after Monday night’s magnitude-5.3 earthquake struck just hours before a magnitude-5.8 temblor hit Virginia, earthquake monitors said Wednesday. Geophysicist Amy Vaughan...
How to Reduce Roof Leak Damage Caused by Hurricanes
Aug 25 2011 // Wind-driven water like that occurring during Hurricane Irene penetrates openings in residential roofs but roof deck seams can be sealed to reduce any damage, according to tests by an insurance home safety institute. The...
Hurricane Irene a Test for North Carolina Island Evacuation Plan
Aug 25 2011 // With Hurricane Irene approaching, evacuations began on a tiny barrier island off North Carolina early Wednesday in what would be a test of whether people in the crosshairs of what could be the first major storm in years...
Earthquake Insurance Premiums by State
Aug 25 2011 // An East Coast earthquake? Suffering damage from a seismic shift isn’t a risk many homeowners outside of California worry about. Most standard homeowners, renters and business insurance policies do not cover damage...
Is It Time to Consider Earthquake Insurance?
Aug 25 2011 // Earthquakes and California go together. Or at least that’s what most of the country thought until Tuesday’s East Coast earthquake centered in Virginia. Reports of the earth moving were widespread, coming from...
Hurricane Irene Batters Bahamas, Threatens Carolinas, Northeast
Aug 25 2011 // Hurricane Irene washed away homes in the Bahamas Thursday as its battering winds and rain headed toward the U.S. eastern seaboard including densely populated New York and New England. U.S. emergency officials have urged...
Threat of Irene Exposes New York’s Vulnerability
Aug 25 2011 // In the annals of natural disasters, it doesn’t get much worse than a major hurricane directly striking New York City and Long Island. Hurricane Irene is on a course that will take it up the East Coast from the...
Earthquake Hits Rural Colorado, Too
Aug 24 2011 // Virginia’s earthquake isn’t the only notable temblor to hit the United States this week. On Monday the largest earthquake to strike Colorado in almost 40 years shook hundreds of people in the southern part of...
North, South Carolina Coastal Insurance Plans Ready for Hurricane Irene
Aug 24 2011 // Caught square in the path of Irene, the first major hurricane of the season, the coastal insurance plans in North and South Carolina are prepared to absorb what may be their first major losses in years. Both plans appear...
Earthquake Tested Safety of East Coast’s Nuclear Plants
Aug 24 2011 // The largest earthquake to hit the East Coast of the United States in 67 years raised concerns on Tuesday about the safety of the country’s nuclear power plants. The 5.8 magnitude quake’s epicenter was just a...
East Coast’s Once-a-Century Earthquake Causes Minor Damage
Aug 24 2011 // A strong earthquake rattled the U.S. East Coast Tuesday, sending tremors as far as Canada, damaging well-known buildings in the nation’s capital and sending scared office workers into the streets. There were no...
