Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Earthquake in Maine Rattles New England States
Oct 18 2012 // The earthquake that rattled southern Maine was felt in New England states as far away as Connecticut, but caused no apparent damage or injuries. Patrons of a pizza parlor near the epicenter of Tuesday’s quake...
Rafael, 9th Hurricane, Bypasses Bermuda; Tropical Storm Paul Weakens
Oct 17 2012 // Rafael became the season’s ninth hurricane on Monday after tracking through the Leeward Islands. The storm then bypassed Bermuda late Tuesday evening. As of the National Hurricane Center’s Wednesday, 5:00 AM...
Iowa on Pace for Slowest Tornado Year in 5 Decades
Oct 17 2012 // Iowa is on pace to see its least active tornado season in nearly 50 years, thanks to the drought. There have been only 16 recorded tornadoes this year, the fewest since 1963, according to State Climatologist Harry...
Nearly 600,000 in Virginia Sign Up for Earthquake Drill
Oct 16 2012 // Nearly 600,000 Virginia residents are expected to participate in a multistate earthquake drill this week. Gov. Bob McDonnell says many people didn’t know about earthquake safety when a magnitude-5.8 quake hit Louisa...
Louisiana Citizens: More Than 17K Claims from Hurricane Isaac, 85% Settled
Oct 15 2012 // Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. reported it has received 17,059 claims from Hurricane Isaac. Ninety-seven percent of those claims have been inspected by company adjusters and 85 percent have been settled. Loss...
Colorado Giving $1.3 Million For Wildfire Recovery
Oct 14 2012 // Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is providing $1.3 million for recovery in the Lower North Fork Fire burn area. Hickenlooper says the funding announced Friday can be used to pay for such things as removing burned trees in...
Tropical Storm Rafael Batters Caribbean; Heads To Bermuda: AIR
Oct 14 2012 // As of Sunday afternoon, Tropical Storm Rafael was moving away from the Leeward Islands after battering the islands with strong winds and heavy rain. Rafael, the 17th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, has...
Ore. County to Ditch Tsunami Sirens; Resident Objects on Facebook
Oct 12 2012 // When the big one hits the Oregon coast, people won’t need sirens, say experts – they’ll know by the intense trembling beneath their feet that a tsunami is on the way and it’s time to hustle to high...
Tropical Storm Patty in Bahamas Is Hurricane Season’s 16th Named Storm
Oct 12 2012 // Late on Thursday, October 11, the sixteenth named storm of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season was declared – Tropical Storm Patty. As of Friday, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), the center of Patty was...
Florida Hurricane Fund in Better Shape But Could Still Be Short on Cash
Oct 11 2012 // Florida’s state-run reinsurance facility still faces a potential $1.5 billion gap to fulfill its maximum mandatory obligation, although it appears poised to be in better financial condition for the 2013 hurricane...
Utah Lawmaker Mulls Climate Concerns in Wildfire Bill
Oct 9 2012 // At the request of a youth group, a Republican Utah lawmaker plans to address concerns about climate change in a bill dealing with wildfires. State Rep. Kraig Powell of Heber City has requested the drafting of legislation...
Cooper Gay Launches Terrorism & Political Risk Crisis Management Service
Oct 8 2012 // London-based Cooper Gay & Co. announced that the independent insurance and reinsurance intermediary is “offering a free crisis management and business continuity consultation to its Terrorism & Political...
Studies: More Than 2 M California Homes Exposed To Wildfires; Hundreds of Thousands in West at ‘Very High Risk’
Oct 8 2012 // More than 2 million homes in California face “extreme wildfire hazards,” over 400,000 of which are in Los Angeles County, according to a study from an insurance industry group. A separate study shows at least...
Rating Hurricane Risk in Florida: How Using Geocoding Can Lead to More Accurate Pricing
Oct 8 2012 // Small companies often believe that they do not have enough homeowners data to build custom rating territories based on different perils, and therefore simply adopt the territories of a competitor. But because catastrophe...
Katrina Victims Take on Hurricane Tour Operators
Oct 5 2012 // Some New Orleans residents and city officials are pushing back against tour operators who bus out-of-towners into the city’s Lower 9th Ward, where Hurricane Katrina unleashed a wall of water that pushed homes off...
11 Homes Destroyed in NW Minnesota Wildfire
Oct 5 2012 // State officials now say 11 homes and 24 other structures were destroyed by the wildfire that threatened the northwestern Minnesota city town of Karlstad. Jean Goad, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center,...
Feds Grant Hawaii $1.3M for Tsunami Sirens
Oct 2 2012 // The U.S. Commerce Department says it will grant Hawaii $1.3 million to upgrade its disaster preparedness system and build new tsunami warning sirens. U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank said in a Friday statement that...
Typhoon Jelawat Hits Okinawa; Moves on Tokyo: AIR Analysis
Oct 1 2012 // Typhoon Jelawat remains a powerful storm, even if its wind speed has decreased from around from 155 mph, 250km/h, it passed over Okinawa on Saturday with wind speeds over 90 mph, 144 km/h, causing extensive damage, and...
Tornado Hits Fair in Spain; Flood Deaths Reach 10
Oct 1 2012 // A tornado swept through a fairground in a Spanish town, knocking down a Ferris wheel and injuring 35 people, while the death toll from flooding in the same southern region of the country rose to 10, authorities said...
Louisiana Seeks to Use Hurricane Recovery Money for Pre-K Program
Sep 28 2012 // Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration wants to shift $20 million in hurricane recovery dollars for hurricanes Gustav and Ike to fill in budget gaps in the state’s free preschool program for at-risk students. The...
