Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Driver Dies in Crash Off Hurricane-Damaged North Carolina Highway
Nov 15 2024 // A driver has died after going around a barricade and driving off the edge of a hurricane-damaged North Carolina highway that became a symbol of Hurricane Helene’s destruction. Photos of Interstate 40 with multiple...
Tropical Storm Sara Menaces Honduras With Catastrophic Floods
Nov 15 2024 // Tropical Storm Sara has formed off the coast of Honduras, threatening to unleash catastrophic flooding and landslides across Central America. Sara, the Atlantic’s 18th named storm this season, had top winds of 40...
Active Volcano Mauna Loa Showed Telltale Warning Signs Before Erupting in 2022
Nov 15 2024 // Scientists can’t know precisely when a volcano is about to erupt, but they can sometimes pick up telltale signs. That happened two years ago with the world’s largest active volcano. About two months before...
Typhoon Usagi Hits Philippines, Set to Track Toward Taiwan
Nov 14 2024 // Typhoon Usagi struck the northern Philippines on Thursday afternoon, the fifth powerful storm to impact the country in three weeks, with the system set to swing north and move toward Taiwan. Usagi, known locally as Ofel,...
Fire Crews on Both US Coasts Battle Wildfires; 1 Death in New York-New Jersey Fire
Nov 12 2024 // Fire crews on both coasts of the United States continued battling wildfires on Sunday, including a blaze in New York and New Jersey that killed a parks employee and another in Southern California that destroyed more than...
Storm-Weary Philippines Forcibly Evacuates Thousands as Another Typhoon Hits
Nov 12 2024 // A new typhoon barreled across an agricultural region in the northeastern Philippines on Monday after thousands were evacuated to safety while still struggling to recover from the devastation caused by three successive...
California Commissioner: 1-Year Moratorium on Cancellations for Wildfire Victims
Nov 12 2024 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara issued a mandatory one-year moratorium on insurance companies to preserve residential insurance coverage for more than 11,000 policyholders affected by the Shelly Fire located...
Spain’s Hurricane Katrina Moment Saw Officials Ignoring Warnings
Nov 8 2024 // As a deadly storm bore down on Valencia on Oct. 29, the regional president was attending a ceremony to recognize his work on sustainable tourism. Three hours earlier, Spain’s national climate agency had issued a red...
15 Homes Evacuated as Crews Battle Another Wildfire in New Jersey
Nov 8 2024 // The latest forest fire to break out in New Jersey spurred authorities to evacuate more than a dozen homes Wednesday as crews worked to contain the blaze, but no injuries or property damage has been reported. The New Jersey...
Zurich’s Exposure to Hurricanes Helene, Milton Below $360M as Catastrophe Losses Rise
Nov 7 2024 // Zurich Insurance Group said on Thursday that its exposure to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which recently wreaked havoc in the United States, would be less than $360 million, as insurers face increasing losses from natural...
About 17% of Gulf of Mexico Oil Production Shut Due to Hurricane Rafael
Nov 7 2024 // About 17% of crude oil production and 7% of natural gas output in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico was shut in response to Hurricane Rafael, the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said on Wednesday. Energy...
Finland Records First Hurricane-Force Winds Off West Coast
Nov 5 2024 // Finland’s coastal waters were hit by hurricane-force winds for the first time, as more extreme weather batters Europe. Storm Lyly brought an average wind speed of 33.5 meters per second on Friday to Kylmapihlaja, off...
Malibu Retrofit at $300,000 Shows Limits of Wildfire-Prepping
Nov 5 2024 // Evelin Weber and her neighbors fled their Malibu homes as the deadly Woolsey Fire tore across the California coast in 2018. Ever since, haunted by fears of another blaze, she’s spent $300,000 on fireproofing her...
Severe Storms and Tornadoes Hit Oklahoma, Leaving 11 Hospitalized
Nov 5 2024 // OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Severe storms and tornadoes battered Oklahoma early Sunday, tossing cars and ripping roofs off buildings in the middle of the night and leaving tens of thousands of homes and businesses without...
Will People Leave Florida After Hurricanes? History Suggests Not
Nov 4 2024 // ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The news rippled through Treasure Island, Florida, almost like a third storm: The mayor planned to move off the barrier island a month after Hurricane Helene flooded tens of thousands of homes along...
Hawaii Attorney General Probe into Deadly Wildfire Won’t Lead to Criminal Charges
Nov 4 2024 // An investigation by the Hawaii attorney general’s office into the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, which destroyed most of the historic town of Lahaina, won’t lead to any criminal charges. Hawaii...
Natural Disaster Losses Below Average Through Q3, Despite Higher Frequency: Report
Nov 4 2024 // Although 2024 has seen significant global natural catastrophe activity, economic costs were slightly below average through the third quarter, according to Gallagher Re’s latest Nat Cat report. The total economic loss...
Claims From Hurricane Milton Continue to Rise in Florida
Nov 4 2024 // Two weeks after Hurricane Milton made landfall near Sarasota, Florida, as a Category 3 storm, claims and loss totals continue to rise. As of Oct. 21, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation said carriers reported more...
Regional Banks With Florida Operations Brace for Loan Defaults After Hurricanes
Nov 1 2024 // Several regional lenders allocated loan-loss provisions in the third quarter to cover potential defaults by borrowers grappling with recent hurricanes, primarily in Florida, highlighting the risks extreme weather and...
Typhoon Kong-Rey Hits Taiwan as Shanghai Braces for Downpour
Oct 31 2024 // Typhoon Kong-Rey made landfall in Taiwan packing dangerous winds, with Shanghai bracing for the heaviest November rain burst since 1981 as the large storm tracks toward mainland China. Kong-Rey had maximum sustained winds...
