Latest Natural Disasters Headlines

All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Hawaii Volcano Lava Destroys 117 Homes on Big Island

Jun 6 2018 // Lava from Hawaii’s erupting Kilauea volcano has destroyed more than 100 homes in a rural Big Island district. As of Monday, lava burned down 117 homes, said Hawaii County spokeswoman Janet Snyder. On Friday, the...

The Hidden Force of a Hurricane (Infographic)

Jun 5 2018 // This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic. Download and share this infographic here. To read more about the places at risk, read the CoreLogic 2018 Storm Surge Report.

Houston Still Rebuilding From Last Year’s Floods as 2018 Hurricane Season Arrives

Jun 4 2018 // In an empty lot where Vincent Shields’ Houston home once stood, he points out properties whose owners were driven out after Hurricane Harvey inundated the region last summer. “On this street there’s...

California Legislators Said to Consider Wildfire Relief Fund to Help Utilities

Jun 4 2018 // California lawmakers are said to be considering a proposal to help utilities shoulder billions of dollars in potential liability costs while offering relief to wildfire victims by setting up a compensation fund that would...

Florida Officials Enact Few Changes for 2018 Hurricane Season

Jun 4 2018 // Florida’s governor and Legislature promised a dizzying array of fixes following the devastation of last year’s hurricanes. But heading into a new storm season, the state has enacted only a few changes – the...

Harvey-Arkema Lesson: Chemical Plants Must Plan for Natural Disasters

Jun 4 2018 // The U.S. Chemical Safety Board is urging chemical plants to weigh the risks of natural disasters just as they would the integrity of pipes and production equipment. “Such facilities should perform an analysis to...

Caribbean Insurers Well-Capitalized Despite 2017 Hurricane Losses: A.M. Best

Jun 1 2018 // An analysis of A.M. Best-rated property/casualty insurers based in the Caribbean reveals that hurricanes Irma and Maria were mainly earnings events, and that the responsiveness of reinsurers allowed these insurers to...

Canada’s May Windstorm Insured Damage Tops $410 Million

Jun 1 2018 // April showers bring May flowers but in Ontario, the last few months brought a series of severe, and unique, weather events. Insured damage from an early-May windstorm affecting Ontario and parts of Quebec topped $410...

Researchers Cool Their 2018 Hurricane Season Forecast

Jun 1 2018 // Subtropical Storm Alberto kicked off the Atlantic hurricane season a week early, but don’t take that as a harbinger of terrible weather. In fact, cooler ocean temperatures are already spurring researchers to scale...

Cities Still Owed Funds from Last Hurricane Season as New Season Gets Underway

Jun 1 2018 // Allen Owen, the mayor of Missouri City, Texas, wants to do more to protect his town from the next disaster. But the city hasn’t gotten any of the roughly $1 million in federal disaster funds he said it’s owed...

What the Florida Industry Needs to Know for the 2018 Hurricane Season

Jun 1 2018 // The 2018 hurricane season is officially underway, even as the dust continues to settle on the 2017 hurricane season — one of the costliest hurricane years on record — that brought devastation to Florida from Hurricane...

CoreLogic: Texas, Louisiana Highly Vulnerable to Hurricane Storm Surge Losses

May 31 2018 // Texas and Louisiana are among the top three states for potential storm surge losses at the start of the 2018 hurricane season, which begins on June 1. That’s according to Irvine, California-based CoreLogic, a...

People, Organizations Working Together to Hurricane-Proof Houston-Area Community

May 30 2018 // The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, working in collaboration with area residents, the Clear Lake City Water Authority, or CLCWA, and Exploration Green Conservancy, have been collaborating to transform an...

Hurricane Maria Death Toll Much Higher Than Official Count Said: Harvard Study

May 30 2018 // Hurricane Maria probably killed about 5,000 people in Puerto Rico last year even though the official count remains at just 64, according to a Harvard University study released Tuesday. Such mortality would far outstrip the...

Survivors of Deadly Tennessee Wildfires Seek $14.8M from Feds in Lawsuit

May 30 2018 // Two survivors of deadly Tennessee wildfires that began in Great Smoky Mountains National Park have sued the federal government, claiming they lost loved ones and a home because of the negligence of park workers. The...

Florida Activates Anti-Fraud Teams in Wake of Tropical Storm Alberto

May 30 2018 // The Florida Department of Financial Services’ Disaster Fraud Action Strike Team (DFSAT) have been deployed across the state to protect Floridians from post-storm fraud that could occur in the aftermath of Tropical...

Flooding Worries Grip New Orleans as Hurricane Season Nears

May 29 2018 // Dr. Lauren Morris’s dental office is in sight of one of the pumping stations designed to push water out of New Orleans. But despite that proximity, the roughly year-old business has already flooded. Now with the June...

FEMA Reorganizing, Top Jobs Unfilled as Hurricane Season Gets Underway

May 29 2018 // With the hurricane season beginning, top jobs at the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency remain vacant and critics say that will make it harder for the government to respond to disasters. FEMA lacks a...

Report Blames PG&E Power Lines for 4 of Northern California Wildfires

May 28 2018 // PG&E Corp.’s equipment was responsible for causing four of the smaller wildfires that tore through Northern California last year, according to the first report issued by state investigators. The fires in Butte...

Oklahoma Earthquakes Lead to More Injection Well Shut Downs

May 25 2018 // The Oklahoma Corporation Commission’s Oil and Gas Division is directing some injection wells in north-central Oklahoma reduce injection volumes and others to stop operations. The directive issued Wednesday comes...