Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Earthquakes Under a Volcano Near Alaska’s Largest City Raise Concerns
Dec 9 2024 // An increase in the number of earthquakes under a volcano near Alaska’s largest city this year has geologists paying attention. Mount Spurr, about 80 miles northwest of Anchorage, last erupted in 1992, spewing an ash...
Miss. Supreme Court Orders USAA to Pay $15M in Hurricane Katrina Bad-Faith Claim
Dec 9 2024 // When hurricanes hit coastal areas, property insurers often breathe a sigh of relief when much of the damage appears to be the result of storm surge and flooding – losses that aren’t covered by most...
Quake Prompted Tsunami Warning West Coast. Here’s What to Know About Tsunamis
Dec 9 2024 // The powerful earthquake that struck in Northern California on Thursday prompted a brief tsunami warning affecting about 5 million people along a stretch of the West Coast — from Northern California to Oregon — before...
UK Issues Red Warning as Storm Darragh Brings Hurricane-Strength Winds
Dec 6 2024 // Storm Darragh has triggered a red weather warning for the west coast of Wales and the Bristol Channel on Saturday, with hurricane-force winds forecast. Wind speeds are expected to reach as high as 90 miles (145 kilometers)...
Insured Losses From Natural Disasters Top US$100B for 5th Consecutive Year: Swiss Re
Dec 6 2024 // Estimated insured losses from natural catastrophes are on track to surpass US$100 billion in 2024 – for the fifth consecutive year — and are even likely to hit US$135 billion-plus, according to Swiss Re...
Strong Northern California Quake Triggered Brief Tsunami Warning
Dec 5 2024 // A magnitude-7.0 earthquake off the coast of Northern California triggered a brief tsunami warning across a swath of the U.S. West Coast. The tsunami threat was declared over less than an hour later even as the area...
Drones Offer an Unparalleled View of the Biggest Wildfire Risks
Dec 5 2024 // Spotting dead and downed trees that can fuel explosive fires is like searching for a needle in a haystack for forestry crews. Not so for drones, which can survey thousands of acres in a single afternoon, easily accessing...
Californians Pay Billions for Power Companies’ Wildfire Prevention Efforts. Are They Cost-Effective?
Dec 5 2024 // Diane Moss lost her home in the Santa Monica Mountains after power lines ignited the apocalyptic Woolsey Fire in 2018. Since then, she’s pressed for a safer electric grid in California. “It’s so easy to...
After Tens of Billions in Insured Losses, Record-Breaking Hurricane Season Ends
Nov 27 2024 // The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season ends Nov. 30 after 18 named storms including the earliest Category 5 storm on record, and possibly one of the costliest hurricanes to the insurance industry. Of the 18 named storms, 11...
Florida Citizens’ Brass Tired of ‘Clickbait’ News on its Hurricane Claims Denials
Nov 22 2024 // Officials with Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. took issue Thursday with a number of national and Florida news reports that have suggested that the insurer has the “worst rate” on paying claims...
Virginia Seeks $4.4 Billion Additional Federal Aid for Hurricane Helene Recovery
Nov 20 2024 // Citing the devastating impacts of Hurricane Helene in southwest Virginia, Governor Glenn Youngkin submitted a request to President Joseph Biden, President-elect Donald Trump and Congressional appropriators for $4.4 billion...
Hurricane Helene Isn’t the Only Big Storm North Carolina Is Recovering From
Nov 20 2024 // RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Almost two months after Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc on western North Carolina, Republican lawmakers grilled officials Monday over how they handled two other hurricanes that hit the state several...
More Logging Proposed to Help Curb Wildfires in Pacific Northwest
Nov 20 2024 // U.S. officials would allow increased logging on federal lands across the Pacific Northwest in the name of fighting wildfires and boosting rural economies under proposed changes to a sweeping forest management plan...
TWIA Board Reviews 2025 Budget After $455 Million Loss from Hurricane Beryl
Nov 19 2024 // The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association Board of Directors met last week to review information related to the agency’s 2025 budget. The meeting presented new information on TWIA losses from 2024 storms as projected...
AI Weather Models Have Shown Promise This Hurricane Season
Nov 19 2024 // When Hurricane Beryl was rushing across the Atlantic basin in July, the weather forecasting tool made by Google Deepmind, the tech company’s artificial intelligence unit, saw something other models missed....
California Wildfire Destroys 243 Structures, Cancellation Moratorium Issued
Nov 18 2024 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara issued a mandatory one-year moratorium on insurance companies to preserve residential insurance coverage for more than 200,000 policyholders affected by the Mountain Fire,...
Voluntary Evacuations Help Firefighters Contain New York State Forest Wildfire
Nov 18 2024 // A voluntary evacuation of homes over the weekend helped New York firefighters continue their progress in containing a state park wildfire near the New Jersey border. The state requested that residents in about 165 homes in...
Super Typhoon Man-yi Lashes Philippines’ Main Island
Nov 18 2024 // Super Typhoon Man-yi battered parts of the Philippines with powerful winds and intense rains as it made its way across the main island on Sunday. Man-yi, known locally as Pepito, made landfall over the coastal Aurora...
Washington Commissioner: Most Homes in 2023 Wildfire Were Underinsured
Nov 18 2024 // An analysis of the claims paid out after the Gray and Oregon Road fires in Washington last year found that most of the homes destroyed were underinsured. The fires destroyed 366 homes, burning more than 20,000 acres...
What to Know About Deductibles After Multiple Florida Hurricanes
Nov 18 2024 // Deductibles serve several purposes. They provide some premium relief for the insured. They make insureds less likely to file smaller claims because either damage falls within the deductible, or is so close to it that the...
