Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Virginia’s Sales-Tax Holiday on Hurricane-Prep Items Begins Today
May 25 2012 // Virginia residents can prepare for the upcoming hurricane season and save money at the same time. The Virginia Department of Taxation says the state’s sales-tax holiday on emergency items such as batteries,...
Hurricane Bud Moving to Mexico’s Coast
May 25 2012 // A tropical storm warning has been issued for the west coast of Mexico as Hurricane Bud gains strength in the Pacific. The warning was in effect early Thursday for Mexico’s Pacific coast from Punto Telmo to Cabo...
U.S. Insurers Have Capacity to Provide 2012 Hurricane Coverage: Fitch
May 25 2012 // Sufficient capacity remains available in the insurance and reinsurance markets to meet the demand for coverage prior to the approaching U.S. hurricane season, according to Fitch Ratings. Early forecasts for the 2012 U.S....
NOAA Forecasts ‘Near Normal’ 4 to 8 Atlantic Hurricanes in 2012
May 25 2012 // The 2012 Atlantic hurricane season will be “near normal” with nine to 15 tropical storms and four to eight of those will strengthen into hurricanes, the U.S. government weather agency predicted on Thursday. One...
R.I. Enacts New Law to Assist Homeowners With Hurricane-Related Claims
May 24 2012 // Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee on Tuesday signed into law legislation designed to provide additional protection to homeowners when they suffer damages from hurricanes. The legislation (House bill 2012-H7484A and Senate...
Insurers Paid $200M to Victims of June 1, 2011 Massachusetts Tornadoes
May 23 2012 // Massachusetts officials said that insurers so far paid out $200 million in claims related to devastating tornadoes in western and central Massachusetts that occurred on June 1, 2011. The Massachusetts Insurance Division...
After Joplin Tornado, Town Looked Like a War Zone, Adjusters Say
May 22 2012 // “One of the eeriest things was … the lack of noise. There were no birds. There was no sound. There was no vegetation. There was nothing. There were no dogs. There were no cars. It was just mounds of rubble,”...
Colorado Wildfire 87 Percent Contained
May 21 2012 // Firefighters in Colorado are working to finish containment lines around a blaze that has burned 12 square miles. The fire in the northern part of the state was 87 percent contained Monday and managers expect it to fully...
Season’s First Tropical Storm Forms Off Carolina Coast
May 21 2012 // Tropical Storm Alberto emerged off South Carolina’s coastline Sunday, the first storm of its kind to form in a hurricane season that doesn’t officially begin until June 1. The storm was not expected to approach...
Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake Strikes Italy’s Emilia Romagna Region: AIR Analysis
May 21 2012 // AIR Worldwide has released its preliminary analysis of the earthquake which struck the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy in the early hours on Sunday, May 20. The US Geological Survey issued a “moment magnitude...
Weather Channel’s Knabb Named Chief of National Hurricane Center
May 21 2012 // Richard Knabb, the tropical weather expert at The Weather Channel, will be the next chief of the U.S. government’s hurricane forecasting hub in Florida, federal officials said Friday. The promotion to director of the...
Major League Baseball to Help Tornado Victims
May 21 2012 // Major League Baseball and a charitable foundation run by players are working with Habitat for Humanity to build five homes in Joplin, Mo. State Farm Insurance Co. is providing more than half of the funding. Crews will work...
A Year after Joplin Tornadoes, $2.16B in Insurance Claims Paid
May 18 2012 // The tornado that swept through Joplin, Mo., on May 22, 2011, has generated $2.16 billion in insurance claims payouts to Missouri policyholders, according to an Insurance Information Institute analysis of data from...
Forecasters Examine Hurricane Andrew’s Legacy
May 18 2012 // The ability to predict how bad a storm will be has eluded forecasters since Hurricane Andrew made a catastrophic landfall in South Florida two decades ago and it will remain a challenge for the next chief at the National...
Hurricane Andrew Remembered at Storm Conference
May 17 2012 // Florida’s emergency managers are preparing for the upcoming tropical storm season by reexamining the lessons learned from Hurricane Andrew. This August will mark the 20th anniversary of Andrew’s catastrophic...
PERILS Q1 Report on European Windstorms Shows ‘Very Active Season’
May 17 2012 // PERILS, the Swiss-based insurance data provider, reports that “in contrast to an unusually quiet European windstorm season in 2010/11, the 2011/12 season was very active.” PERILS said it had “investigated...
Tsunami May Have Sent Floats To Washington
May 16 2012 // More than two dozen floats – many with Asian writing and logos – found May 5 on Dungeness Spit during the first beach cleanup of the season. The floats are apparently part of the debris from the March 2011 Japanese...
Texas Windstorm Alternative Eligibility Program Deadline: Aug. 31
May 15 2012 // The Texas Department of Insurance is currently developing a process for obtaining an Alternative Certification for obtaining windstorm insurance in coastal areas. Under the Alternative Eligibility Program, residential...
Arizona Wildfires Grow, Evacuations Underway
May 14 2012 // Fire crews battled several wildfires in Arizona over the weekend, including a 4 1/2-square-mile blaze in the northern part of the state that prompted evacuations in a historic mining community. A fire about 4 miles north...
Claims Valued At $35M Filed Over Reno Wildfires
May 14 2012 // About 1,100 claims valued at $35 million have been filed as a result of two major wildfires around Reno in recent months, according to insurance carrier reports. The Nov. 18 Caughlin Ranch Fire burned nearly 1,900 acres...
