Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Pool Re Completes £2.4 Billion Terrorism Retrocession Program
Mar 4 2020 // Pool Re, a leading British terrorism reinsurer, said it has completed placement of its £2.4 billion retrocession program with more than 50 international reinsurers, led by Munich Re. Hannover Re also provided a...
Tennessee Governor Declares State of Emergency After Multiple Tornadoes
Mar 3 2020 // Damage to areas of Nashville from severe tornadoes that hit the area March 2 and March 3, 2020 is captured by resident Adam Holdren. Reprinted with permission. Severe weather and tornadoes have impacted several counties in...
M5.8 Earthquake Strikes Near Western Alaska
Mar 3 2020 // A magnitude 5.8 earthquake near Adak, the westernmost municipality in the United States, the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed. The earthquake struck 12:37 p.m. on Sunday at a spot 144.9 miles west of Adak, a town of about...
Three Florida Men Plead Guilty to Scamming Homeowners After Hurricane Michael
Mar 2 2020 // Three men have pleaded guilty to scamming Florida Panhandle homeowners out of about $319,000 by promising to repair hurricane damage and never doing the work. Edward Newton, Christoper Mayes and Christian Pantazonis each...
USDA’s Wildfire Indemnity Program Offers Possible Drought Assistance for California Farmers
Feb 28 2020 // U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced additional disaster assistance available to agricultural producers, including producers impacted by drought and excess moisture as well as sugar beet growers. California...
California Bill Aimed at Property Insurance in Communities Investing in Wildfire Prevention
Feb 28 2020 // Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-Marin County, has introduced Assembly Bill 3258, which would require property insurance providers to take into consideration local government investments in wildfire prevention when determining...
California Worries About Drought and Wildfires Amid Dry Winter
Feb 28 2020 // California officials are bracing for the potential of another drought and an early and more intense wildfire season amid a record-breaking warm and dry February. February is shaping up to be driest on record for much of...
California Public Utilities Commission Fines PG&E $2.1B over Wildfires
Feb 28 2020 // The California Public Utilities Commission has issued an administrative law judge decision imposing $2.137 billion in penalties against Pacific Gas and Electric Company for the utility’s role in the catastrophic 2017...
Georgia to Receive $347M in Long-Awaited Hurricane Michael Relief
Feb 28 2020 // Georgia’s governor and agriculture commissioner on Wednesday announced that $347 million in federal disaster relief funding would soon be available to farmers, nearly a year and a half after Hurricane Michael caused...
California Wildfire Victims Fear They’ll Be Last in Payout
Feb 27 2020 // A $13.5 billion settlement between victims of California’s catastrophic wildfires and the utility blamed for causing them was supposed to bring some peace and hope to people still reeling from the...
PG&E Fires Contractor After Probe Involving California Wildfires
Feb 26 2020 // Pacific Gas & Electric has fired a contractor hired to haul debris from the site of a deadly 2018 Northern California wildfire, saying the company was over-billing the utility and paying “large sums of money and...
Coronavirus’ Hits to Supply Chains Could Surpass Natural Disasters: Opinion
Feb 26 2020 // Everyone is wondering when China will return to work. While it may be tempting to consider past epidemics or labor strikes to gauge how quickly that could happen, the industrial shutdown from the coronavirus is looking...
Oregon Wrestles With Building Facilities in Tsunami Zones
Feb 24 2020 // Experts say the big one is coming to the Pacific Northwest: a massive earthquake that will cause buildings and bridges to collapse and unleash a tsunami that will devastate the coast. But, doubling down on its decision...
A Tale of Two Californias: Managing Wildfire Risk in the Year 2030
Feb 24 2020 // For most of the 20th century, the insurance industry considered wildfires to be little more than a nuisance. They were frequent but rarely resulted in more than a handful of claims, and underwriters priced for them in the...
Swiss Re 2019 Profit Hit by Natural Disasters, U.S. Casualty Claims
Feb 20 2020 // Reinsurer Swiss Re reported on Thursday a smaller-than-expected profit in 2019 due to claims for a series of man-made and natural disasters, as well as expenses for its U.S. casualty business, sending its shares lower. Net...
Texas Windstorm Insurer Sets Funding at $4.2 Billion for 2020 Cat Year
Feb 19 2020 // The wind and hail insurance carrier of last resort for counties along the Texas coast has determined that its 1-in-100 probable maximum loss (1:100 PML) for the 2020 catastrophe year is $4.2 billion. At a quarterly meeting...
California Commissioner, Lawmakers Intro ‘Hardened Homes’ Wildfire Bill Requiring Admitted Market to Offer Coverage
Feb 18 2020 // A newly proposed bill would clarify under California law the concept of “hardened homes” that are safer or more resistant to wildfires and then require admitted carriers to cover those homes. California’s...
4.0-Magnitude Earthquake Hit Central California Coast
Feb 14 2020 // An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.0 shook California’s central coast on Wednesday but no damage or injuries were immediately reported, the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed. The quake that hit at 7:33...
Report: Death Toll in 2018 California Wildfire Likely Includes 50 More People
Feb 13 2020 // Doctors and other experts say at least 50 more people, many of them elderly or ill, likely died as a result of the 2018 wildfire that devastated the town of Paradise, California, but were not counted in the official death...
National Weather Service Confirms Five Tornadoes Hit Maryland
Feb 13 2020 // The National Weather Service has confirmed that five tornadoes ripped through parts of Maryland on Friday. Multiple news outlets report that the tornadoes were confirmed in Carroll, Cecil, Montgomery and Frederick...
