Latest Flood Headlines
All the headlines from our Flood Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Aon’s Impact Forecasting Launches Models for E. Africa Quakes, Mexico Floods
Sep 3 2013 // Impact Forecasting, the catastrophe model development center of excellence at Aon Benfield, has launched two new models: an earthquake model for East Africa and a new flood scenario-based model for Mexico reinsurers. East...
Vienna Insurance Hurt by Spring Flooding Losses
Aug 30 2013 // Vienna Insurance Group AG, Austria’s biggest insurer, reported second-quarter profit plunged after the worst central European floods in a decade caused damage compensation to triple. The shares fell. Pretax profit...
West Virginia Says Resort Owner’s Illegal Dam Is Flood Hazard
Aug 29 2013 // Billionaire coal company and resort owner Jim Justice is in a war of words with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection over an illegally built dam at a gated golf course community, a 17-foot-high...
Louisiana Community ‘a Ghost Town’ a Year After Isaac
Aug 28 2013 // Isaac barely had hurricane-strength winds when it blew ashore southwest of New Orleans a year ago, but its effects are still apparent in coastal areas where it flooded thousands of homes. After landfall on Aug 28, 2012,...
Crews Carry Out 18 Rescues Due To Flash Flooding in Vegas
Aug 27 2013 // Authorities say crews carried out 18 swift water rescues after flash flooding hit the Las Vegas area. Fire and Rescue spokesman Timothy R. Szymanski says many of rescues came on Sunday after vehicles stalled in flooded...
Delaware Town Faces Flood Insurance Suspension
Aug 24 2013 // Federal Emergency Management Agency says more than 100 Bowers Beach property owners may have to pay more for flood insurance and could lose coverage if the town doesn’t fix longstanding deficiencies in its...
Terrebonne Parish President Urges Out-of-State Calls on Flood Insurance
Aug 23 2013 // A south Louisiana parish president is calling on residents to contact out-of-state relatives and friends to enlist help in the fight against projected drastic flood insurance costs. Changes to the National Flood Insurance...
Mississippi Officials Seek Ways to Stem Flood Insurance Rate Hikes
Aug 23 2013 // Calling pending flood insurance increases “drastic and draconian,” U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo of Gulfport met Wednesday with state and local leaders to discuss ways to stem the tide of rising insurance rates that...
FM Global Advises Property Owners to Be Proactive, Address Vulnerabilities
Aug 22 2013 // Business property insurer FM Global is urging property owners to take active measures now to help prevent potential storm losses as the peak of hurricane season approaches. “A big lesson from Hurricane Sandy is that...
When It Comes to Flood Risks, Population Shifts Trump Climate Change
Aug 22 2013 // Draft versions of a forthcoming working group report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — set to be formally released Sept. 27 — have already found their way into the hands of...
Red River Diversion Opponents Sue Army Corps
Aug 21 2013 // Opponents of a planned project to divert the Red River around Fargo, N.D., and Moorhead, Minn., have sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in federal court. The lawsuit filed by opponents south of the metro area accuses...
$48M Floodgate Going into Operation in Terrebonne
Aug 21 2013 // A floodgate designed to insulate portions of Louisiana’s Terrebonne Parish from storm surge driven in from the Gulf of Mexico is being dedicated on Aug. 21. The Courier reports the $48 million Bubba Dove Floodgate in...
$56 Bn Economic Loss; $17 Bn Insured: Swiss Re’s 1st HY Disaster Report
Aug 21 2013 // According to preliminary sigma estimates from Swiss Re, “total economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters were $56 billion in the first half of 2013. The global insurance industry covered $20...
Swiss Re Plays Key Role in Oxfam’s Bangladesh Flood Insurance Program
Aug 21 2013 // The global charity Oxfam has announced the launch of a flood insurance program for poor and vulnerable people in the river basin areas of the Sirajganj district of Bangladesh. “Initiated by Oxfam, the project is...
Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force Addresses Insurance Challenges
Aug 20 2013 // The Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, led by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, issued a report Monday that provides recommendations for mitigating harm from future storms. Recommendations include...
Louisiana Flood Board Votes to Continue Oil, Gas Lawsuit
Aug 20 2013 // A New Orleans-area flood control board has refused to back down from its lawsuit seeking damages from nearly 100 oil and gas companies over coastal erosion allegedly caused by dredging and digging for canals and pipelines....
Mississippi Coast Property Owners Told to Buy Flood Insurance Now to Save
Aug 20 2013 // With the eighth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina near, homeowners along the Mississippi Coast also have to brace for possible rate increases of 20 percent for flood insurance and 3.2 percent for wind pool insurance. The...
Stilt Houses in Greenwich, Conn., Foreshadow Impact of New Flood Maps
Aug 19 2013 // In the coastal areas of Greenwich, Connecticut, the latest housing craze requires hydraulic jacks, pylons and stilts. One home towers over its neighbors like a cruise ship. Others look like expensive tree...
Report: More Reforms Needed for Flood, Wind Insurance Programs
Aug 15 2013 // A new report this week from the Union of Concerned Scientists, a watchdog group, warns that sea level rise and worsening storm surge are increasing both the risks of flooding in coastal communities and the potential for...
Flood Official: Oil Companies ‘Trashed the Hotel Room’
Aug 15 2013 // A Louisiana flood control official is likening the oil and gas industry in coastal Louisiana to rock stars who bring a lot of money to the area but, in his words, “trashed the hotel room.” Stephen Estopinal was...
