Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Overcapacity in P/C Insurance Keeping Commercial Prices Down
May 2 2011 // Most commercial lines insurance prices continued their downward trend in the first quarter, as underwriters’ efforts to hold the line on premiums buckled under the pressure of a highly overcapitalized market. Three...
Texas Wildfires Fueled by High Winds, Drought
May 2 2011 // Firefighters continued in late April to make gradual progress containing massive, wind-whipped wildfires that raged across Texas during the month. West Texas firefighters rushed to finish controlled burns in the Ft. Davis...
Japan Quake Reveals Cracks in Insurance System
May 2 2011 // Michael Korn, managing principal at Integro Insurance Brokers, is a popular person these days, which is perhaps not too surprising considering he is an insurance broker in earthquake-prone San Francisco. “We’re...
Mitigation Consensus
May 2 2011 // The Griffith Insurance Education Foundation recently brought together industry, government and academic leaders – many from disaster-prone coastal states for a symposium at Ohio State University. By the end of the...
Officials, Insurers Begin Tallying Damages from Deadly Storm
Apr 29 2011 // Officials in Southeast states hammered by a storm that killed at least 300 people have begun the task of evaluating the damage. Alabama appears to have suffered the brunt of the storm, where Tornadoes struck particularly...
Tornadoes, Storms Rip South, at Least 228 Dead
Apr 28 2011 // Tornadoes and violent storms ripped through seven southern U.S. states, killing at least 228 people as they flattened neighborhoods, flipped cars and toppled trees and power lines. In the deadliest series of tornadoes in...
Asbestos: Japan Tsunami’s other Hidden Danger
Apr 28 2011 // Inside the chunks of slate and wallboard smashed and scattered by Japan’s tsunami hides a health risk that has been overshadowed by contamination from a leaking nuclear plant: the odorless and nearly invisible threat...
Marsh Agrees: Soft Pricing Persisted Despite Catastrophe Losses in Q1
Apr 27 2011 // Catastrophe losses approached record levels in the first quarter but despite this commercial property/casualty insurance rate increases were confined to loss-affected exposures. In regions and for classes of business not...
S&P: Japan’s Rating Outlook Now Negative on Quake Costs; Affirms Debt Ratings
Apr 27 2011 // Standard and Poor’s threatened to cut Japan’s sovereign credit rating again, warning the huge cost of last month’s devastating earthquake will hurt already weak public finances unless bickering...
Weather Forecasters Agree on Active 2011 Atlantic Hurricane Season
Apr 27 2011 // Weather Service International [WSI] forecasters predicted an active 2011 Atlantic hurricane season Tuesday, with 15 named storms, eight of which are expected to become hurricanes. Of these, four are expected to develop...
Hail Storm Slams Abilene, Brings Some Relief to Wildfire Area
Apr 26 2011 // Baseball size hail hit Abilene, Texas, on April 24 causing property damage to vehicles, homes and businesses. Hail fell from a line of storms that passed over the southern half of the city and continued to move eastward...
Overcapacity in P/C Insurance Keeping Commercial Prices Down
Apr 26 2011 // Most commercial lines insurance prices continued their downward trend in the first quarter, as underwriters’ efforts to hold the line on premiums buckled under the pressure of a highly overcapitalized market. Three...
Global Reinsurers at ‘Critical’ Point, Says Best’s Report
Apr 26 2011 // A new special report, compiled by A.M. Best, concludes that the string of major catastrophes, a persistent soft market and the near exhaustion of excess reserves have placed global reinsurers at a “critical”...
Officials Say Oklahoma Tornado Causing Financial Woes
Apr 25 2011 // A tornado that destroyed 149 structures in Oklahoma’s Atoka County on April 14 is causing a major financial strain on residents and relief agencies, officials said. About 65 percent of the people who lost houses when...
St. Louis Cleaning Up After Tornado Hits Airport, Local Communities
Apr 25 2011 // Flights began departing the St. Louis, Mo., airport on April 24 for the first time since a tornado struck two days earlier. Departures began Sunday morning at Lambert Airport, even as cleanup continued. The C concourse...
Tornadoes Confirmed in Oklahoma, Arkansas
Apr 25 2011 // The National Weather Service has confirmed at least three tornadoes touched down in Oklahoma in the night on April 22 as a line of fierce storms passed through the state, and although power was knocked out to about 1,700...
Insurers Receive Hundreds of Tornado Claims in Virginia
Apr 25 2011 // Property owners in Virginia have submitted hundreds of claims to insurers for damage caused by recent tornadoes. The Virginian-Pilot reports that State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. received about 400 claims by...
Japan to Launch Massive Search for Quake Victims Bodies
Apr 25 2011 // Japan will send nearly 25,000 soldiers backed by boats and aircraft into its disaster zone Monday on an intensive land-and-sea mission to recover the bodies of those killed by last month’s earthquake and tsunami, the...
Beazley Remains Confident, Despite Q1 Catastrophes
Apr 25 2011 // The first quarter of 2011 reminded the insurance industry of just how unpredictable natural catastrophes can be. Beazley plc, which is headquartered in Dublin, but whose main activities, are in the Lloyd’s market,...
Allianz Confirms Cat Bond Commitment with $40 Million U.S. Placement
Apr 25 2011 // Germany’s Allianz has reconfirmed its commitment to catastrophe bonds, as a useful and generally accepted method of transferring a certain amount of risk to the capital markets. It underlined that commitment with the...
