Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Hedge Funds Overseeing Cat Bonds Try to Remain Calm Over Irma
Sep 8 2017 // Greg Hagood didn’t have many details to work with on Thursday afternoon. Hurricane Irma wasn’t expected to make landfall in South Florida for another 64 hours. Projections for its path were all over the place,...
Chemical Fallout from Hurricane Irma Could Be Worse than Harvey’s
Sep 8 2017 // Before flames and smoke leaped into the sky over the Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, last week, Jolyn Masters was hunkered down at home on a Hurricane Harvey-flooded street a mile away. Then came a knock. A...
Irma Update: Georgia Coast Evacuation Underway; Gas, Water Shortages in Miami
Sep 8 2017 // Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century, drove toward Florida on Friday after lashing the Caribbean with devastating winds and torrential rain, killing 19 people and leaving a swathe of...
Tackling Houston’s Flood-Damaged Cars Takes an Army of Tow Trucks
Sep 8 2017 // How do you remove hundreds of thousands of damaged cars from a massive city still mired in water and muck? Tow-truck driver Alex Toll will tell you: one vehicle at a time. Toll is part of an army of more than 1,000 tow...
Life-Threatening Hurricane Irma Heads for Miami-Dade County
Sep 8 2017 // Hurricane Irma continued on a collision course with Miami after devastating a chain of Caribbean islands, triggering the largest evacuation in Miami-Dade County history and threatening to become the most expensive storm in...
Coverys to Acquire Global Insurance Management Company of Florida
Sep 8 2017 // Coverys, a medical professional liability insurer, and Global Insurance Management Company, Inc. (GIMC), a provider of medical professional liability insurance for physicians and other healthcare providers, have entered...
Hurricane Irma Pummels Caribbean Islands; 14 Known Deaths
Sep 7 2017 // The eye of Hurricane Irma grazed the Turks and Caicos Islands on Thursday, rattling buildings after it smashed a string of Caribbean islands as one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century, killing 14 people on...
Congress Eyes More FEMA Disaster Aid, Short-Term Flood Insurance Renewal
Sep 7 2017 // The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency will run out of disaster assistance funding on Friday unless Congress approves more money, two Florida senators warned on Thursday. As Hurricane Irma barrels through the...
Hurricane Irma Devastates Chain of Caribbean Islands, Now Setting Sights on Florida
Sep 7 2017 // Irma barreled toward Florida after battering Puerto Rico and devastating a chain of small Caribbean islands, as the Category 5 hurricane threatens to turn into the most expensive storm in U.S. history. Irma, one of three...
Update: Insurance Industry Preparation for Hurricane Irma in Full Swing in Florida
Sep 7 2017 // Source: National Hurricane Center Insurers are taking no chances in preparing for Hurricane Irma as the powerful category 5 storm slogs its way through the Caribbean, devastating the communities left in its wake on its...
Some Insurers Stop Writing Policies on New Cars in Florida, Car Dealers Say
Sep 7 2017 // Insurers including Progressive Corp. and Allstate Corp. have stopped issuing policies on new cars in certain Florida counties, hindering vehicle sales days before Hurricane Irma is forecast to hit the state. The companies...
Why the Number of Coastal Homeowners with Flood Insurance Has Been Shrinking
Sep 7 2017 // Amanda Spartz nearly did not renew her home’s flood insurance policy after her first year in Florida. Two hurricanes came close to the Fort Lauderdale suburbs last year, but they didn’t hit and her home...
Here’s What a Category 5 Hurricane Could Do to Florida
Sep 7 2017 // Florida hasn’t suffered a category 5 storm since Hurricane Andrew hit the north Miami area on Aug. 24 1992, but the risk of such a storm has not gone away or even declined. In fact, the state’s risk of...
As Irma Looms, This Small Insurer Has an Outsized Bet on Florida
Sep 7 2017 // As Hurricane Irma edges closer to Florida, investors on Wall Street are watching a small insurer with an unusually big commitment to the state. Universal Insurance Holdings Inc., with a market capitalization dwarfed by...
Hurricane Irma Brings Fierce Winds, Surf and Rain to Caribbean Islands
Sep 6 2017 // Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century, churned across northern Caribbean islands on Wednesday with a potentially catastrophic mix of fierce winds, surf and rain, en route to a possible...
Florida’s Private Flood Insurers Could Face Big Test from Hurricane Irma
Sep 6 2017 // Hurricane Irma could test a nascent private flood insurance market in Florida that some advocates say is a model for making U.S. flood coverage more affordable and commonplace in high-risk areas. Florida’s private...
Florida Police Chief Fired Over Fatal Accidental Shooting at Citizens Academy
Sep 6 2017 // A Florida police chief has been fired just more than a year after one of his officers accidentally shot and killed a woman during a citizens academy exercise. Punta Gorda City Manager Howard Kunik announced Tom...
Florida Insurers’ Shares Tumble as Irma Threatens
Sep 6 2017 // Shares of Florida home insurers, including Heritage Insurance Holdings, tumbled on Tuesday and many extended losses later in the day as Hurricane Irma appeared set to hit Florida on Saturday, causing investors to brace for...
Powerful Hurricane Irma, on Path to Slam Caribbean Then Florida, Could Surpass Katrina
Sep 5 2017 // Hurricane Irma, the most powerful storm to form in the open Atlantic Ocean, made landfall in the Caribbean early Wednesday and barreled toward Puerto Rico on a path that may bring it ashore in Florida and destroy so much...
Florida in State of Emergency as Category 5 Hurricane Irma Threatens
Sep 5 2017 // Florida declared a state of emergency before a possible hurricane strike after Irma strengthened to become a Category 5 storm on its approach to the Caribbean. Irma’s maximum winds rose as high as 175 miles an hour...
