Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida Hurricane Fund May Come Up Short If Big Storm Hits: Panel
May 14 2012 // Florida may not have enough money to pay off hurricane insurance claims if a big storm hits this year. An advisory panel last Thursday concluded that the state may fall nearly $2 billion short of the total needed to cover...
Major League Baseball to Help Tornado Victims
May 11 2012 // Major League Baseball and a charitable foundation run by players announced they are working with Habitat for Humanity to build nine homes for the tornado-ravaged communities of Joplin, Mo., and Tuscaloosa, Ala., with more...
Virginia Hurricane-Prep Sales Tax Break Starts May 25
May 10 2012 // Virginians who want to stock up on batteries, bottled water and other supplies for the hurricane season will get a tax break this month. Starting May 25 and continuing for seven days, a sales tax holiday will spare them...
Florida Approves Hurricane Shelter Plan
May 10 2012 // The construction of new public schools across Florida has contributed to a significant increase in the number of hurricane shelter spaces, according to a plan approved this week by Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida...
Colorado Wildfire Compensation Compromise Moving Along
May 9 2012 // A compromise proposal to allow Colorado wildfire victims to seek state compensation in excess of liability limits remains on track for approval in the Legislature. A Senate committee voted 5-0 Monday in favor of a bill to...
Massachusetts to Host Hurricane Preparedness Conference
May 7 2012 // Hundreds of emergency management and public safety officials from across Massachusetts are meeting this week for a hurricane preparedness conference. The all-day conference hosted by the state Emergency Management Agency...
Tornado Cost Wichita, Kansas Area $146.3M
May 7 2012 // Sedgwick County, Kansas, officials say the tornado that hit Oaklawn and southeast Wichita on April 14 caused an estimated $146.3 million in damage. County officials say the tornado damaged or destroyed 776 homes and 86...
Earthquake Hazard in Washington to Be Studied
May 7 2012 // The federal government is going to take another look at the potential earthquake hazard at Hanford in Washington. The seismic assessment will update the Department of Energy’s last comprehensive analysis in 1996. The...
Fewer Storms for 2012 Hurricane Season?
May 7 2012 // The 2012 Atlantic hurricane season is projected to be less active than in recent years with 11 tropical storms, six of which will intensify into hurricanes, according to Andover, Md.-based private forecaster Weather...
Meteorologist: Tornado Near Stockton, Calif., not Unusual
May 7 2012 // The National Weather Service says the tornado that struck five miles outside of Stockton, Calif., last month was not unusual for the time of year. The twister on farmland near Interstate 5 left a path of damage about a...
Burned Couple Settles Wildfire Suit For $6M
May 4 2012 // A badly burned Santa Barbara couple has settled their wildfire lawsuit against a property owner for $6 million. Lance and Carla Hoffman were overtaken by flames and nearly killed in the November 2008 Tea Fire, which was...
Aon Benfield’s April Global Cat Reports near $1 Billion in Tornado Losses
May 4 2012 // Aon Benfield, the global reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor of Aon plc, has released its latest edition of its Global Catastrophe Recap report, which reviews the natural disaster perils that occurred worldwide...
New Tool for Texas Wildfire Risk Assessment Now Available
May 4 2012 // Officials with Texas Forest Service and the Texas A&M University System announced that new tools are available to help homeowners and communities determine wildfire risk — and take measures to mitigate potential...
South Carolina Coast Bracing for Next Wildfire
May 2 2012 // Pat Henry will long remember that April night when the western horizon glowed an eerie red, smoking embers cascaded from the sky, and she and her husband escaped their home driving through their subdivision of flaming...
More Families Building Their Own Tornado Shelters
May 2 2012 // When deadly twisters chewed through the South and Midwest in 2011, thousands of people in the killers’ paths had nowhere to hide. Now many of those families are taking an unusual extra step to be ready next time:...
Southern Arizona Science Project Sparks Wildfire
Apr 30 2012 // A science project at a southern Arizona school sparked a 15-acre wildfire and led to the school’s evacuation. The project involved model rockets being launched behind Elgin School. One of the rockets landed in the...
Colorado Wildfire Ambushed Crews, Surprised Residents
Apr 30 2012 // Outside the windows of Steve Foster’s pickup, Armageddon was coming. A rampage of smoke – white and streaked with black – crested the ridge to his left and bore down. It began blocking the sun, turning daylight...
UK Terrorism Reinsurer Pool Re Has over $7 Billion for Olympic Games Coverage
Apr 30 2012 // Pool Re, the state-backed British reinsurer that covers terror attack-related commercial property losses, has £4.5 billion ($7.327 billion) of assets to cover the Olympic Games and is not jacking up premiums for the...
Rate Hike Proposal Sent to Board of Texas Windstorm Insurer
Apr 27 2012 // In advance of the start of hurricane season, the actuarial underwriting committee of Texas’ property insurer of last resort for coastal counties is recommending a rate increase. The committee on April 20 voted for a...
GOP: Set Up Panel To Pay Colo. Wildfire Victims
Apr 26 2012 // Republicans want to create a commission to pay victims of a wildfire southwest of Denver, Colo. that killed three people and damaged two dozen homes, lawmakers said. A bill expected to be introduced this week would...
