Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
P/C Insurers’ Net Income, Surplus Rose But Profitability Dropped
Dec 27 2007 // The U.S. property/casualty insurance industry’s net income after taxes rose 7.1 percent to $49.4 billion through nine-months 2007 from $46.1 billion through nine-months 2006. Fueled by the industry’s net...
Tornadoes Take Their Toll
Dec 23 2007 // While hurricanes stayed away, tornadoes did not. Powerful tornadoes killed at least 20 people and left a swath of central Florida in shambles in early February. It was the second-deadliest tornado in Florida history....
Natural Disasters, Fires, Floods, Fair Conduct Fueled Insurance Industry Discussions in 2007
Dec 23 2007 // While 2007 was surprisingly calm year for hurricanes, that doesn’t mean Mother Nature didn’t have a tantrum or two. In the past year, the West faced its share of disasters, with freezes, floods and fires making...
Weather blows through top stories of 2007
Dec 23 2007 // Weather, directly or indirectly, was a driving force in the insurance markets for the South Central states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas in 2007. With the exception of Arkansas, throughout the year the South...
2007: Climate Change Dominates Debate While Soft Market Hits Entire P/C Market
Dec 23 2007 // The debate over climate change captured the world’s attention, including the insurance industry’s, in 2007, while major hurricanes spared the United States’ coastline. The soft market took hold of...
Survey of Analysts Projects Healthy Underwriting Profits
Dec 23 2007 // I.I.I.’s Earlybird Forecast predicts negative premium growth but continued profitability in 2008 Next year may go down on record as one of the best insurance industry underwriting performances in the past 80 years,...
Allstate’s 4th Quarter Catastrophe Losses of $100 Million Higher than ’06
Dec 20 2007 // Allstate Corp. said Tuesday October’s California wildfires plus other disasters have hiked the insurance company’s fourth-quarter catastrophe losses by about $100 million. Allstate said it received more than...
Bush Gets Terrorism Insurance Extension Bill to Sign
Dec 19 2007 // The U.S. House of Representatives has passed an extension to the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) by a vote of 360 to 53 in a form closer to what the Bush Administration and the Senate would support than to an original...
Catlin Purchases $225 Million in Cat Bonds; Best’s Ratings
Dec 19 2007 // The Bermuda-based Catlin Group Limited announced that Catlin Insurance Company Ltd. of Bermuda has purchased coverage totaling $225 million under a catastrophe swap agreement in the event of severe US natural catastrophes...
Preliminary Swiss Re ‘sigma’ Report Estimates 2007 Cat Losses
Dec 19 2007 // Swiss Re has released a preliminary “sigma” report detailing the extent of 2007’s catastrophe losses. According to its initial estimates, more than 20,000 people were killed by natural and man-made...
California Hosts Industry Summit Addressing Wildfire Survivor Needs
Dec 19 2007 // California Insurance Poizner hosted a roundtable meeting Tuesday with CEOs and executives of leading insurance companies to improve the recovery process for wildfire victims and announce minimum standards to reform the...
National Weather Service says Alabama at High Risk for Wildfires
Dec 19 2007 // National Weather Service forecasters and officials with the Alabama Forestry Commission say Alabama is at an unusually high risk for wildfires, despite a cold snap. The National Weather Service has issued a red flag...
Allstate Incurs More than $300 Million in Southern California Wildfire Losses
Dec 19 2007 // The Allstate Corp. reported that the company has received more than 7,000 claims from the Southern California wildfires in October of this year, resulting in approximately $315 million to $335 million in wildfire-related...
Va. Completes Installation of Hurricane Gates on Highways
Dec 18 2007 // The last of the 440 hurricane evacuation gates between Norfolk and Richmond, Va. have been installed. The Virginia Department of Transportation says the last 298 gates of the $8.7 million project finished a week early and...
S&P Raises RenRe’s Ratings to ‘A’ and ‘AA-‘; Outlook Stable
Dec 17 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has raised its counterparty credit rating on Bermuda-based RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. to ‘A’ from ‘A-,’ as well as its counterparty credit and...
Survey of Analysts Projects Healthy Underwriting Profits
Dec 17 2007 // Next year may just go down on record as one of the best insurance industry underwriting performances in the past 80 years, according to an industry survey of Wall Street stock analysts and industry professionals. Analysts...
Engineer Says Providence, R.I. Hurricane Barrier Needs Repairs
Dec 14 2007 // A hurricane barrier protecting downtown Providence, R.I. from floods caused by major storms needs about $20,000 in repair work. City Engineer William Bombard says a gear broke several months ago, so one of the massive...
Westrope to Offer New Catastrophe Risk Assessment System
Dec 14 2007 // Kansas City, Mo.-based. Westrope has announced that it has selected California-based Risk Management Solutions (RMS) to provide catastrophe risk assessment capabilities through RMS Wholesale Broker RiskBrowser. RMS is a...
White House Repeats Threat to Veto House Terrorism Insurance Bill
Dec 12 2007 // The Bush Administration has reasserted its opposition to a House bill that would extend the federal terrorism insurance program after it expires on Dec. 31, vowing to veto any final measure that differs measurably from the...
Hurricane Forecaster Changes Formula, Predicts Active 2008 Season
Dec 10 2007 // Using a simplified forecasting technique, researcher William Gray is predicting an above-average hurricane season in the Atlantic next year, with seven hurricanes, three of them major. Gray’s team at Colorado State...
