Latest Hurricane Headlines
All the headlines from our Hurricane Topic Page, ordered by recency.
P/C Industry Disputes Consumer Group’s Claims It’s Avoiding Risk
Feb 17 2012 // Traditionally risk-takers, property/casualty insurance companies have become more like risk-avoiders when it comes to weather-related claims, leaving consumers and taxpayers to pay much higher costs, according to a new...
Last Katrina FEMA Trailer Leaves New Orleans
Feb 17 2012 // The last of the once-ubiquitous FEMA trailers has been removed from New Orleans more than six years after floodwalls and levees broke during Hurricane Katrina and caused the city to fill with floodwaters. The Federal...
4 Executives Found Not Guilty in Florida Hurricane Fund Fraud Case
Feb 17 2012 // Four insurance executives of a now defunct Florida property insurer have been found not guilty of defrauding the state’s reinsurance facility of over $20 million in a case stemming from hurricane losses dating back...
100-Year Storms May Happen Every 3 to 20 Years: MIT-Princeton Research
Feb 15 2012 // Last August, Hurricane Irene spun through the Caribbean and parts of the eastern United States, leaving widespread wreckage in its wake. The Category 3 storm whipped up water levels, generating storm surges that swept over...
New Tool Helps P/C Insurers Manage Volatility of Catastrophe Models
Feb 1 2012 // A new risk management tool promises to help insurance companies understand wide swings in loss estimates from traditional catastrophe models and better plan for large loss events. Karen Clark & Co. (KCC), founded by a...
Maryland High Court Sides With Allstate in Coastal Homeowners Case
Jan 31 2012 // The Maryland Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, ruled in favor of Allstate last week. It upheld a previous lower court’s ruling that the insurer was within its rights to stop writing new homeowners...
Four Northeastern States Get New Federal Emergency Aid From HUD
Jan 23 2012 // New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont and New Jersey are among the eight states nationwide that will share in $400 million in new federal emergency aid announced by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development last...
Texas Ranks Low in Study of Statewide Building Codes
Jan 23 2012 // Neighboring Louisiana Fares Better That Texas was ranked among the bottom three states in a recently released analysis of residential building codes in the 18 hurricane-prone coastal states does not sit well with the...
Texas Ranks Low in Study of Building Codes; Louisiana Fares Better
Jan 20 2012 // That Texas ranked among the bottom three states in a recently released analysis of residential building codes in the 18 hurricane-prone coastal states does not sit well with the state’s insurance regulators. In the...
National Hurricane Center Chief Reed to Retire
Jan 17 2012 // National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read, who took over the forecasting agency during a time of turmoil and leaves it much calmer, announced Saturday he will retire effective June 1. Read, 62, said he never intended to...
Report: Louisiana Homeowners Insurance Rates Rising More Slowly
Jan 16 2012 // Homeowners insurance premiums in Louisiana remain among the nation’s highest, but are rising much more slowly than they did in the first two years after Hurricane Katrina, new data from by the National Association of...
North Carolina Farmers Hurt by Hurricane Irene Eligible for Federal Help
Jan 13 2012 // North Carolina farmers hurt by Hurricane Irene last August and by tornadoes in April can now get more help from the federal government with more loan options and payments to recover from crop losses. State officials...
Aon Benfield 2011 Catastrophe Study: $107 Bn Insured Losses; $435 Bn Economic
Jan 10 2012 // Aon Benfield, the global reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor of Aon Corp, has issued its “Annual Global Climate and Catastrophe Report,” which aggregates and analyses the natural disaster perils that...
More Louisiana Property Owners Move to Private Insurers
Jan 9 2012 // Fresh data shows Louisiana’s insurer of last resort keeps churning away on getting private insurers to pick up policyholders, a problem largely stemming from the 2005 hurricanes. For policyholders of Louisiana...
Conn. Updates Coastal Underwriting Guidelines
Jan 9 2012 // Connecticut insurance department amended its coastal underwriting guidelines last month to clarify when hurricane deductibles can be applied. Regulators have been working on making the changes in the wake of criticisms...
6 Years Later, Katrina Victims Fight FEMA Debts
Dec 30 2011 // When the Federal Emergency Management Agency mailed out 83,000 debt notices this year to victims of Hurricane Katrina and other 2005 storms, one of the letters showed up in David Bellinger’s mailbox. Bellinger, who...
Insurers Worry 2012 Will Top 2011 for Record Weather Disasters
Dec 28 2011 // From floods that crippled countries, to mega cyclones, huge blizzards, killer tornadoes to famine-inducing droughts, 2011 has been another record-breaker for bad weather. While it is too early to predict what 2012 will be...
New Orleans Hurricane Wall Creates Prime Fishing Spot
Dec 27 2011 // Anglers in the wetlands surrounding New Orleans never have to look very far to be reminded they are living the ultimate paradox: They are enjoying the nation’s most prolific coastal fishing in the midst of a terminal...
For Florida Gov. Scott, Insurance Fixes Are Legislative Priority
Dec 21 2011 // Gov. Rick Scott wants lawmakers to fix a pair of auto and property insurance issues that are costing Floridians hundreds of millions of dollars but have eluded resolution for more than a decade. The issue facing the...
Louisiana Citizens Owes More than $100M to Policyholders, High Court Says
Dec 20 2011 // Louisiana’s highest court has reinstated a nearly $100 million judgment against the state’s property insurer of last resort in a class action lawsuit stemming from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Louisiana...
