Latest Catastrophe Headlines

All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Killer Storm Gustav Gains Strength; Could Threaten U.S. Gulf Coast

Aug 28 2008 // After causing more than 20 deaths in Haiti, Tropical Storm Gustav is now heading for Cuba, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. The latest update from Miami’s National Hurricane Center indicates that Gustav is gaining...

Oil Industry Battens Down As Gustav Threatens Gulf

Aug 28 2008 // Oil companies ramped up preparations to evacuate some facilities as Hurricane Gustav made its way toward the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, becoming a potential threat to the region’s extensive oil and natural gas...

Louisiana Keeping Eye on Gustav; New Orleans Mulls Evacuation

Aug 28 2008 // Three years after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Louisiana coast, New Orleans residents Wednesday again faced the prospect of an evacuation as Tropical Storm Gustav loomed. Not since Katrina and Hurricane Rita, which...

Forecasters Warn Gustav Could be Major Hurricane When It Reaches Gulf States Monday

Aug 28 2008 // Tropical Storm Gustav shifted course slightly on Thursday morning and moved toward the Jamaica, and forecasters predicted it would be a powerful hurricane by the time it reaches the Gulf of Mexico. “The re-formation...

Gustav Weakens over Haiti

Aug 27 2008 // Gustav has weakened to tropical storm strength as it passes over western Haiti, reported Miami’s National Hurricane Center. However, the Jamaican government has issued a tropical storm warning for the island and a...

Texas Wind Pool Claims Add Up as New Tropical Storm Develops,

Aug 26 2008 // With hurricane season halfway over for 2008, Louisiana has so far dodged the bullet but Texas has taken on two warning shots with Hurricane Dolly and Tropical Storm Edouard. As hurricanes and tropical storms go, neither...

AP: New Orleans Repeating Deadly Levee Mistakes

Aug 25 2008 // Signs are emerging that history is repeating itself in New Orleans, still healing from Katrina: People have forgotten what happened after Hurricane Betsy caused catastrophic flooding four decades ago and again believe the...

Florida Insurance Regulator: Hurricane Deductible Does Not Apply

Aug 22 2008 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty issued an advisory to remind Florida consumers and authorized insurers that the hurricane deductible of their homeowner’s policy does not apply at this time —...

Update: Tropical Storm Fay Hangs on to Status, Stays in Florida

Aug 22 2008 // Tropical Storm Fay continues slowly westward across the northern Florida peninsula while tropical storm warnings remain in effect throughout the region, into the panhandle and north through Georgia to the South Carolina...

Study Finds Economic Costs of Federal Cat Legislation Burdensome

Aug 22 2008 // Natural catastrophe legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and pending in the U.S. Senate would create a multi-billion dollar burden on taxpayers in at least 20 states, according to a new study released...

State Ranking In Number of Events

Aug 21 2008 // F5 Tornado damage in Parkersburg, Iowa, May 25, 2008. Tornado damage, Windsor, Colo. Prior to 1990, the average number of tornadoes per year in the Continental US was 772. In the period from 1990 through 2007, the average...

Tornado Threats Loom Large as Flood Waters Recede

Aug 21 2008 // Kansas had 1,616 tornadoes, 11 of them were F4 tornadoes and nine were categorized as F5. … The number of tornadoes reported has gone up over 50 percent. Much has been written in the last six weeks about the 2008...

Obtaining Optimal Catastrophe Coverage

Aug 21 2008 // The complexity of the cat insurance market can make it difficult to keep pace with the coverage options. In the midst of hurricane season, insurance agents and brokers are reminded of the need for forward-thinking...

5 Florida Regions Among Top 10 Tornado-Prone

Aug 21 2008 // The rural area to the northeast of Denver, Colo., tops the nation when it comes to regions most prone to tornados, according to Boston-based CDS Business Mapping LLC, an online hazard mapping firm. The top 10 most tornado...

Japan: Risk and Rewards

Aug 21 2008 // In Japan, agencies write 93 percent of P/C insurance. The Japanese property and casualty insurance market is ripe for opportunities, but there also are significant risks in the country, according to Keiji Fukasawa of...

Obtaining Optimal Catastrophe Coverage

Aug 21 2008 // The complexity of the cat insurance market can make it difficult to keep pace with the coverage options. In the midst of hurricane season, insurance agents and brokers are reminded of the need for forward-thinking...

Cleaning Up After Hurricane Katrina

Aug 21 2008 // In both Mississippi and Louisiana, the principal argument in support of the alleged ambiguity was that the flood waters during Hurricane Katrina were pushed ashore by wind, a covered peril, and the flood exclusion did not...

Colorado Ranks High on Tornado Charts

Aug 21 2008 // Tornadoes are usually classified using the Fujita Tornado Scale, or FScale developed by Dr. T. Theodore Fujita at the University of Chicago in 1971, CDS said. Using FScale classifications, the study looked at whether there...

Majority of California Wildfires Contained, 100 Homes Destroyed

Aug 21 2008 // The California wildfires, with smoke drifting out to the Pacific Ocean (L), are seen in this NASA satellite image released July 9, 2008. REUTERS/NASA/Handout (UNITED STATES). More than 1,400 fires that burned as part of...

Obtaining Optimal Catastrophe Coverage

Aug 21 2008 // The complexity of the cat insurance market can make it difficult to keep pace with the coverage options. The savvy wholesale broker keeps tabs on which surplus lines insurers have the appropriate capacity for In the midst...