Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Opinion: California’s Wildfires Burn Our Climate Illusions
Mar 4 2019 // Joan Didion’s “Holy Water,” written in 1977, is a paean to the elaborate engineering that supplied her taps in Malibu and filled drinking glasses in Hollywood restaurants. At its heart is a warning: The...
Pool Re Completes £2.3B ($3.1B) Terrorism Retrocession Placement
Mar 1 2019 // Pool Re, Britain’s state-backed terrorism reinsurer, has today completed placement of its £2.3 billion (US$3.1 billion) retrocession program with more than 50 international reinsurers, led by Munich Re. The program,...
U.K.’s Pool Re Sells Terrorism Risk Catastrophe Bond
Feb 26 2019 // A U.K. reinsurer has sold the first terror catastrophe bond, giving investors the chance to lock in high yields in return for taking on terrorism risks. The 75 million-pound ($99 million) three-year bond will pay 5.9...
Tornado Kills 1 in Mississippi; Flooding Threatens Southeast
Feb 26 2019 // Weekend storms raked parts of the Southeast, leaving deaths and injuries in their wake as a tornado smashed into a commercial district in a small Mississippi city and drenching rains fed a rising flood threat. A woman was...
Florida Woman Arrested in $68K Hurricane Irma Scam
Feb 21 2019 // A Florida woman has been arrested for alleged unlicensed practice of public adjusting and grand theft related to Hurricane Irma, according to a statement from the Florida Department of Financial Services. Mary Bruce is...
AXA Reports 66% Drop in 2018 Net Profit on U.S. Unit’s IPO Costs, Natural Disasters
Feb 21 2019 // Net profits at AXA, Europe’s second biggest insurer, fell sharply as a result of charges related to its U.S. unit’s initial public offering (IPO) and a spate of natural disasters, although AXA hoped for higher...
Ironshore’s Shrubb Joins AXA XL’s Terrorism Insurance Team in U.S.
Feb 20 2019 // Morgan Shrubb has joined AXA XL Insurance as underwriting manager for War, Terrorism & Political Violence insurance. Shrubb joins AXA XL from Ironshore International where she served as a production specialist, charged...
SCOR’s Net Profit in 2018 Rises 13% Despite Spate of Q4 Natural Disasters
Feb 20 2019 // French reinsurer SCOR, which was the target of a thwarted acquisition by rival Covea last year, posted a surge in overall 2018 net profits despite making a loss in the fourth quarter caused by a spate of natural...
Thousands of Lawsuits Demanding PG&E Pay for Damages from Wildfires
Feb 18 2019 // Some 1,000 lawsuits have been filed since late 2017 demanding Pacific Gas & Electric Corporation pay for damages caused by wildfires. The lawsuits represent thousands of people, companies, cities and counties affected...
Number of Missouri Homes with Earthquake Coverage Declines
Feb 18 2019 // Between 2008 and 2017 rhere was a significant drop in the number of homes in Missouri insured for damage from earthquake, state insurance regulators report. That’s despite the fact that earthquakes present a...
Predicting Path of Spreading Wildfires
Feb 18 2019 // A University of Missouri researcher is teaming up with scholars in Kansas and Georgia to develop drone technology to monitor and potentially predict the spread of wildfires. The $1.2 million project will use drones to...
California Weighs Buying Disaster Insurance Policy to Cover Wildfire Costs
Feb 14 2019 // California’s insurance commissioner and a lawmaker want to the state to consider buying insurance in the private market to cover rapidly increasing costs of fighting wildfires due to climate change. State Sen. Bill...
UK’s Pool Re Extends Terrorism Cover to Include Non-Damage Business Interruption
Feb 13 2019 // UK’s Pool Re now is able to cover losses incurred if a business cannot trade or is prevented from accessing its premises in the wake of a terrorist attack. Before a change in the law, Pool Re, a public-private...
Georgia House Budget Increases Funds for Hurricane, School Safety
Feb 13 2019 // The Georgia House has approved a midyear budget adjustment that increases funding for school safety and farmers hit by the devastation of Hurricane Michael in October. Republican Rep. Terry England, chairman of the House...
Firefighters Gain Upper Hand over New Zealand Wildfires; Evacuees Return Home
Feb 12 2019 // About 3,000 people who fled as a wildfire threatened a New Zealand town were allowed to return home Monday [Feb. 11] as firefighting conditions improved. Another 400 residents living in valleys near the fire aren’t...
Another California Utility One Wildfire Away From Ruin
Feb 11 2019 // The warning couldn’t have been clearer. As PG&E Corp. plunged into bankruptcy last month, S&P Global Ratings slashed credit grades almost to junk status for California’s two other big electric...
PG&E Vows to Improve Wildfire Prevention
Feb 8 2019 // The nation’s largest utility is promising to overhaul its wildfire-prevention measures in response to growing legal, financial and public pressure over its role in starting some of the most destructive blazes in...
Number of Missouri Homes Insured for Earthquakes Declined from 2008 to 2017
Feb 7 2019 // Despite the fact that earthquakes present a significant hazard to Missourians, the number of homes insured against damage from earthquakes declined between 2008 and 2017, according to a Residential Earthquake Coverage...
Boeing Sued for Negligence in Southern California Wildfire
Feb 7 2019 // Boeing Co. was accused of negligence tied to a wildfire that tore through Malibu, California, in November and that purportedly started on the grounds of the nearby, disused Rocketdyne testing site. A group of homeowners...
PG&E Could Kill Lights to Customers When California Wildfires Occur
Feb 7 2019 // Anyone who gets power from PG&E Corp. could see their lights go out this fire season. Even the millions of Californians who live outside risky areas could be left in the dark under a sweeping proposal the utility filed...
