Latest Hurricane Headlines

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

La. Bill Would Extend Time to File Hurricane Insurance Lawsuits

May 17 2006 // Addressing a looming insurance deadline that could affect thousands of homeowners and businesses, the Louisiana House of Representatives passed a bill to give insurance claimants an extra year to file a lawsuit over...

Complaints Lead to Probe of La. Insurers’ Hurricane Claims Handling

May 17 2006 // Lousiana Commissioner of Insurance Jim Donelon announced the Department of Insurance is set to begin market conduct examinations on two insurers, Allstate and St. Paul/Travelers. Donelon said he ordered the exams in...

Fla. Hurricane Commission Reviews, Re-Certifies Residential Model

May 17 2006 // The Florida Commission on Hurricane Loss Projection Methodology has re-certified the Risk Management Solutions Hurricane model for use in establishing residential insurance rates in Florida. This year’s review...

S&P Raises Citizens Property Insurance Rating to A+

May 17 2006 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has raised its rating on Citizens Property Insurance Corp., Fla.’s $1.6 billion of high-risk account senior-secured debt to ‘A+’ from ‘A’ and...

Florida Insurance Relief Bill Signed by Gov. Bush, Provides $1.2B

May 16 2006 // A bill which provides $1.2 billion to help ease the impact of rising property insurance rates caused by two unprecedented hurricane seasons has been signed into law by Gov. Jeb Bush in Tallahassee. “The Legislature...

Insurer Group Reminds Homeowners of the Need for Flood Coverage

May 16 2006 // Many Texas homeowners are under the impression that flooding caused by rising water is covered under the standard homeowners insurance policy in Texas and often they discover that fact too late, according to Sandra Ray,...

AccuWeather Predicts Six Hurricanes Will Make Landfall

May 16 2006 // The AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center in State College, Pa. led by Chief Forecaster Joe Bastardi, has released its 2006 hurricane season forecast. An active hurricane season appears imminent, which could have major...

Citizens Property Insurance Increases Upset Policyholders in Florida

May 15 2006 // Marci L. Rose’s home and rental properties in Key West, Fla. escaped serious damage when hurricanes battered the state in 2004 and 2005, but she might lose them anyway. Like thousands of Floridians, the real estate...

Royal Palm to Offer Coverage to Allstate Floridian Customers

May 15 2006 // St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Allstate Floridian has reached an agreement with Royal Palm Insurance Co., a new property insurer in the state, to offer Allstate Floridian customers and Florida consumers property insurance...

Scruggs Sues Allstate for Denying Katrina Claims

May 15 2006 // Allstate Insurance Co. has been sued for allegedly denying rightful claims of hurricane-damaged homes. Lawyer Richard Scruggs filed the lawsuit Friday in federal court on behalf of 310 Allstate policyholders allegedly...

Texas Regulators Urge Coastal Residents to Review Insurance Coverages

May 12 2006 // As hurricane season approaches, officials at the Texas Department of Insurance are reminding all Gulf Coast home and business owners that it is important to periodically review their insurance policies to ensure that...

White Paper Cautions Reliance on Near-term View of Hurricane Risk

May 10 2006 // AIR Worldwide Analysis Concludes That Significant Uncertainty AIR Worldwide Corporation (AIR) issued a white paper that reviews the current state of research on climatological impacts on hurricane activity and explains the...

La. Senate Approves Bill Extending Hurricane Claims Deadline

May 10 2006 // The Louisiana Senate approved a bill that would extend the deadline for victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to file claims with their insurance companies. Sen. Julie Quinn’s bill would give policyholders through...

Despite Hurricane Losses, Soft Insurance Market Continues

May 9 2006 // Although property & general liability insurance rates increased in the first quarter of 2006, all indications point to a continuing soft commercial insurance market according to the Risk and Insurance Management...

Marinas Slowly Make Comeback in Hurricane-hit La.

May 9 2006 // A growing number of marina owners and operators in southern Louisiana have scraped together whatever resources they can find to reopen their businesses. In a recent summary of the state’s fishing infrastructure, 80...

Agents Learn U.S. Insurers Withstood Record Catastrophe Losses with Strong Capitalization, Sound Risk Management

May 9 2006 // Strong capitalization, sound risk management and efficient global risk sharing enabled the U.S. property/casualty insurance industry to withstand record-setting catastrophe losses in 2005, but the industry also should keep...

Rensselaer model of New Orleans levee points to layer of clay

May 8 2006 // Preliminary findings from a simulation project suggest that during Hurricane Katrina the 17th Street Canal levee in New Orleans may have slid on a layer of weak clay just beneath the peat that underlies the earthen...

Hurricane winds could be felt in professional liability markets

May 8 2006 // The professional liability market may be significantly affected by the increase in frequency and severity of hurricanes, causing greater rating agency scrutiny and changes to evaluation models. “The three recent...

The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association: Challenges and solutions

May 8 2006 // The 2006 hurricane season is looming and the insurance industry already sees dark clouds on the horizon. The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association is considerably under-funded in the event a major hurricane makes landfall...

Tornados foretell things to come

May 8 2006 // As emergency planners and hurricane experts from across the U.S. met in April to plan and prepare for the hurricane season, the timing couldn’t have been better, as massive twisters roared down “tornado...