Latest Natural Disasters Headlines

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

Hurricane Harvey Caused More than $200M in Crop, Livestock Losses in Texas

Nov 8 2017 // Hurricane Harvey caused more than $200 million in crop and livestock losses, according to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. Hurricane losses by agricultural commodity include: livestock – $93 million; cotton...

Officials: Small Ohio City Hit by Possible Tornado, 8 Injured

Nov 7 2017 // At least eight people have been injured after a possible tornado hit a small Ohio city. Mercer County officials say six people were hurt when a restaurant in Celina was damaged during Sunday’s storms. One person was...

Typhoon Damrey’s Vietnam Death Roll Rises; AIR Worldwide Comments

Nov 7 2017 // A powerful typhoon that rocked Vietnam has killed at least 44 people, left more than a dozen missing and caused extensive damage to the country’s south-central region ahead of a summit that will draw leaders from...

Puerto Rico Bond Insurers’ Stocks Fall After ’60 Minutes’ Episode on Hurricane Maria

Nov 7 2017 // Shares of three major bond insurance firms with exposure to Puerto Rico fell on Monday after a “60 Minutes” episode aired on Sunday highlighted the extensive damage wreaked on the island by Hurricane...

Berkshire Insurance Units Take Q3 Hit from U.S. Hurricanes, Mexico Earthquake

Nov 6 2017 // Bad weather hurt Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in the third quarter, as insurance losses tied to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and an earthquake in Mexico contributed to a 43 percent drop in...

Despite Earthquake Risk, UK Ready to Begin Fracking – Again

Nov 6 2017 // Six years after Britain’s first fracking operation was stymied by earth tremors, its shale gas industry is poised to try again with a technology that could transform the UK gas market and drastically reduce its...

Does a CPP Cover Trees Knocked Over by a Hurricane?

Nov 6 2017 // When a hurricane blows through, it isn’t just the trees on a homeowner’s property that could be damaged. There could be trees on a business’ property that are damaged as well. Does the commercial property...

Insured Losses from Hurricane Nate Could Top $1B

Nov 6 2017 // Catastrophe modeling companies have estimated insured losses from Hurricane Nate will reach $500 million and could even top $1 billion. Hurricane Nate formed as a tropical depression on Oct. 4, 2017, and was upgraded to a...

Georgia Estimates $550M in Insured Losses from Hurricane Irma

Nov 6 2017 // Georgia’s estimated insured losses from Hurricane Irma have climbed to more than $550 million, with insurers reporting approximately 103,163 claims filed as of October, according to Georgia Insurance Commissioner...

Commissioner Denies Texas Windstorm Insurance Association Request to Raise Liability Limits

Nov 6 2017 // Texas Insurance Commissioner Kent Sullivan in mid-October declined to approve a request by the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association to raise the maximum limits of liability on windstorm and hail policies. TWIA filed a...

Officials Confirm Oklahoma Casino Hit with EF1 Tornado

Nov 6 2017 // Emergency managers say an Oklahoma casino had part of its roof torn off by an EF1 tornado during a concert that the state’s governor was attending in late October. The twister touched down in Cleveland County, one of...

Hurricane Damage Tracked by East Texas Company’s Drones

Nov 3 2017 // Unmanned aircraft helped a Nacogdoches, Texas, business survey hurricane damage with a degree of speed and safety once thought impossible. The Daily Sentinel reports after Hurricane Harvey battered the Texas coast and...

Hurricanes Drive Q3 Loss for Liberty Mutual But ‘Fundamentals Remain Healthy’

Nov 3 2017 // Liberty Mutual Holding Co. Inc. reported a net loss of $665 million for the three nine months ended September 30, 2017, versus net income of $455 million for the same period in 2016. The net loss in the quarter was driven...

$2.1M in Funding For Montana Town’s Tornado Recovery Efforts

Nov 3 2017 // Montana officials say they have secured $2.1 million in federal disaster aid for ongoing cleanup efforts in the town of Baker where a tornado tore up homes, leaving a lake covered in hundreds of tons of debris. The...

Texas Hurricane Czar: State Needs $61B from Feds for Harvey Recovery

Nov 2 2017 // Texas needs $61-plus billion in federal funding just to rebuild public infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Harvey, as well as to cover projects to prevent future flooding. John Sharp, Texas’ Harvey recovery...

California Wildfires Destroyed Part of Hewlett-Packard Archives

Nov 1 2017 // California’s deadliest wildfires have also destroyed an irreplaceable collection of Silicon Valley history. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported that more than 100 boxes of letters and other materials from tech...

Insured Losses from California Wildfires Now at $3.3 Billion

Oct 31 2017 // The largest California insurers have so far reported more than $3.3 billion in insured losses from the October wildfire siege, now considered the most destructive fires in state history. Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones...

California Wildfires: May Take Years for Full Recovery

Oct 30 2017 // It will take at least months and likely years to fully recover from devastating wildfires that ripped through Northern California earlier this month, destroying at least 8,900 structures and killing 42 people, Sonoma...

Not All Expect Hurricanes to Bring 2018 P/C Insurance Hard Market

Oct 30 2017 // The worst hurricane season in modern U.S. history is starting to look like a blip on the charts of insurance stocks, with investors banking on a quick restoration of capital as firms rediscover pricing power. It’s a...

Florida Hurricane Fund Irma Payouts Could Exceed $5B

Oct 30 2017 // Hurricane Irma’s damaging rampage through Florida may require the state fund that provides backing to private insurers to pay up to $5.1 billion in claims. Anne Bert, chief operating officer for the Florida Hurricane...