Latest Hurricane Headlines
All the headlines from our Hurricane Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Key Figures on Superstorm Sandy, 6 Months Later
May 1 2013 // Superstorm Sandy, a hybrid of a hurricane and two cold-weather systems, struck six months ago on Oct. 29, concentrating most of its fury on New Jersey, New York and Connecticut and becoming one of the most expensive storms...
Researchers Develop New Metric to Measure Destructive Potential of Hurricanes
May 1 2013 // Researchers at Florida State University have developed a new metric to measure seasonal Atlantic tropical cyclone activity that focuses on the size of storms in addition to the duration and intensity, a measure that may...
Floridians Encouraged to Buy Flood Insurance Before Hurricane Season Gets Underway
Apr 23 2013 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty is encouraging Floridians to make preparations now for the upcoming 2013 hurricane season by purchasing flood insurance. Flood insurance is administered through the National...
Florida Hurricane Cat Fund Reform in Jeopardy
Apr 19 2013 // Plans to reform Florida’s state-backed reinsurance facility with proponents scaling back their proposals. The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund has been the subject of legislative reform efforts for several years as...
Louisiana Katrina/ Rita Class Action Flood Settlement Process Revised
Apr 16 2013 // A previous version of the more than $20 million settlement proposed in 2008 in a class action suit over flooding in Louisiana stemming from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita has been revised. The new settlement now includes a...
CCRIF in Pact with Jamaica Government for $100,000 Sandy Disaster Relief
Apr 16 2013 // On Friday April 12, 2013 the Government of Jamaica and the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), formalizing a donation of $100,000 made by CCRIF to the...
‘Sandy’ Officially Retired from List of Atlantic Storm Names
Apr 16 2013 // “Sandy has been retired from the official list of Atlantic Basin tropical cyclone names by the World Meteorological Organization’s hurricane committee because of the extreme impacts it caused from Jamaica and...
2013 Hurricane Prediction: 72% Chance on East Coast; 48% for Florida
Apr 10 2013 // The Colorado State University team is predicting an above-average 2013 Atlantic basin hurricane season with 18 named storms and a 72 percent chance one will make landfall somewhere along the entire Eastern seaboard. Nine...
Houma, Louisiana Floodgate to Be Ready for Hurricane Season
Apr 10 2013 // The flow of the Houma Navigation Canal in Louisiana completely stopped recently for the first time in the waterway’s 50-year existence. The door of the Bubba Dove Floodgate was connected and fully closed as part of...
Pension Funds Looking for Higher Yields from Cat Bonds
Apr 9 2013 // Pension funds are turning to specialist bonds that bet on the likelihood of a natural disaster, in a search for yield and returns that are not correlated to the rest of the market. What was once considered an exotic...
Hurricane Center Learns Lesson from Sandy; Changes Warnings
Apr 8 2013 // Responding to criticism after Superstorm Sandy, the National Hurricane Center says it will change the way it warns people about tropical storms that morph into something else. At the height of Sandy, as the hurricane...
Insurance Covered Half of U.S. Disaster Costs in 2012: Swiss Re
Apr 8 2013 // Natural catastrophes and man-made disasters caused $186 billion in economic losses globally in 2012 and took approximately 14,000 lives, according to global insurer Swiss Re’s latest sigma study. The United States...
Forecaster Gray Sees Active Hurricane Season Ahead
Apr 3 2013 // Forecaster William Gray said he expects a very active hurricane season, but he’s not yet giving likely numbers of named storms, hurricanes and major hurricanes. Gray told hundreds of people at the National Hurricane...
ImpactWeather: Hurricanes in 2013 Will Be More Severe Than in 2012
Mar 29 2013 // Houston-based ImpactWeather predicts that 2013 will bring a series of hurricanes more severe than 2012. In an announcement released by the company, Senior ImpactWeather Meteorologist Chris Hebert provided the following...
Katrina, Sandy Offer Similar Lessons for Builders
Mar 28 2013 // Lessons learned from Hurricane Sandy about how best to limit damage to buildings closely track those of Katrina, a federal engineer said. Elevating generators and pumps is a good idea but enclosing elevated foundations...
Insurance Covered Half of U.S. Disaster Costs in 2012: Swiss Re
Mar 27 2013 // Natural catastrophes and man-made disasters caused $186 billion in economic losses globally in 2012 and took approximately 14,000 lives, according to global insurer Swiss Re’s latest sigma study. The United States...
Swiss Re Study for 2012 Losses: $77 Bn Insured; $186 Bn Economic
Mar 27 2013 // Swiss Re has released its latest sigma study, which found that economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters reached $186 billion in 2012. Insured losses amounted to $77 billion, making 2012 the third...
FIGA Reforms Should Increase Flexibility, Not Eliminate It
Mar 25 2013 // When it comes to property insurance reform in Florida, everyone is basically focused on proposals that deal with the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and the (over) regulation of...
Receivership Proposed for Texas’ Insurer of Last Resort
Mar 25 2013 // In a meeting on March 25, the board of directors of Texas’ insurer of last resort in coastal areas is expected to discuss the organization’s dire financial condition and the possibility of placing the...
With Rates Expected to Drop, Cat Fund Reform Should Be a No-Brainer
Mar 18 2013 // For four out of the last seven years, the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund has been projected to have a shortfall should a major hurricane impact the state and cause the fund to pay out to its coverage limits. This is...
