Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Workers’ Comp Rating Bureau Working on 2024 NAIC Terrorism Risk Insurance Data Call
Feb 23 2024 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau plans to submit to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) insurer-specific California workers’ comp terrorism exposure data, including...
NHC Unveils New Hurricane Forecast Maps for 2024, Showing More Inland Warnings
Feb 21 2024 // The familiar “cone of uncertainty” map, used for years by meteorologists to show a hurricane’s predicted path, is about to get an upgrade – at least temporarily, the National Hurricane Center announced...
Hub Launches High Net Worth Excess Wildfire Program in California
Feb 19 2024 // HUB International launched a new program to address the need for enhanced wildfire coverage of high value homes that will be offered exclusively by HUB Private Client to address the insurance and risk management needs of...
February Tornadoes in Wisconsin Caused $2.4M in Damage
Feb 16 2024 // EVANSVILLE, Wis. (AP) — The first ever tornadoes ever recorded in Wisconsin in the usually frigid month of February caused more than $2.4 million in damage, officials said Wednesday. The tornadoes that ripped through...
Powerful Winds Cause Destruction, Spark Wildfires in Australia’s State of Victoria
Feb 15 2024 // Powerful winds have killed a man and brought widespread destruction across Australia’s second-most populous state, leaving 530,000 homes and businesses without power and fanning fires that razed homes and injured...
Missouri DCI Highlights Cost, Lack of Earthquake Coverage in High-Risk Areas
Feb 15 2024 // The Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance (DCI) issued an Earthquake Survey in December 2023 that shows a lack of understanding about risk and insurance coverage is a problem, while the cost and lack of available...
Summer-Like Conditions Lead to First Wisconsin Tornadoes in February
Feb 14 2024 // EVANSVILLE, Wis. (AP) — The first tornadoes ever recorded in Wisconsin in the usually frigid month of February tore through mostly rural areas on a day that broke records for warmth, setting up the perfect scenario for...
Iceland Plans to Buy Out Homeowners in Volcano-Struck Town
Feb 13 2024 // Iceland’s government has agreed to buy all residential properties in the fishing town of Grindavik, which has become uninhabitable after three volcanic eruptions rocked the region in the last two months. Grindavik...
Father in Gender-Reveal That Sparked Fatal 2020 California Wildfire Pleads Guilty
Feb 13 2024 // A man whose family’s gender reveal photo shoot sparked a Southern California wildfire that killed a firefighter in 2020 has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, prosecutors said. The El Dorado Fire erupted on...
Magnitude 5.7 Earthquake Struck Mauna Loa Volcano in Hawaii
Feb 12 2024 // A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the world’s largest active volcano on Friday — Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii — knocking items off shelves and cutting power in a nearby town but not immediately prompting...
The Odds of a Hurricane-Boosting La Niña This Year Are Rising
Feb 12 2024 // The odds of a La Niña weather pattern this year are rising, amplifying the risk of hurricanes in the Atlantic and drought in California and South America. There’s a 55% chance that La Niña, a cooling of the...
4.0 Earthquake Felt off Florida’s East Coast
Feb 9 2024 // Along with hurricanes and litigation, Floridians and their insurers can now add another potential concern: earthquakes. The National Weather Service reported that a 4.0 magnitude temblor, one of the largest recorded in the...
Two Years After Deadly Tornadoes, Some Kentucky Families Still Waiting for Housing
Feb 8 2024 // MAYFIELD, Ky. (AP) — Ashley Prince and her family have been chasing “normal” for years now. Two years ago, the tornado that whipped through Mayfield peeled the roof off their rental property “like a...
Recent Earthquakes in Oklahoma Serve as a Reminder of Ongoing Risk
Feb 8 2024 // OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — After a dramatic spike in earthquakes in the early 2010s, state regulators in Oklahoma began taking steps to limit the injection of wastewater from oil and gas extraction deep into the ground. As a...
Category 6? As Warming Stokes Storms, Some Want a Bigger Hurricane Category
Feb 7 2024 // A handful of super powerful tropical storms in the last decade and the prospect of more to come has a couple of experts proposing a new category of whopper hurricanes: Category 6. Studies have shown that the strongest...
Chile’s Second-Largest Refinery Shuttered Due to Power Outage Following Wildfires
Feb 5 2024 // The Aconcagua refinery, Chile’s second-largest with a capacity to process 102,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude, has been shut down since Friday following a power outage caused by forest fires raging in the country,...
Hub Launches High Net Worth Excess Wildfire Program in California
Feb 5 2024 // HUB International launched a new program to address the need for enhanced wildfire coverage of high value homes that will be offered exclusively by HUB Private Client to address the insurance and risk management needs of...
USGS: Nearly 75% of US Could Experience A Damaging Earthquake
Feb 5 2024 // Nearly 75% of the U.S. could experience damaging earthquake shaking, a recent U.S. Geological Survey report shows. A USGS-led team of more than 50 scientists and engineers in the latest USGS National Seismic Hazard Model...
Alaska Charter Company Paying $900K for Wildfire From Campfire
Jan 31 2024 // An Alaska fishing guide company has paid $900,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by the U.S. government alleging one of its guides started a wildfire in 2019, the U.S. attorney’s office for Alaska said in a...
Hawaii Officials Identify Last of 100 Known Victims of Wildfire That Destroyed Lahaina
Jan 30 2024 // The last of the 100 known victims of the wildfire that destroyed Maui’s historic town of Lahaina in August was identified as a 70-year-old woman whose husband, sister and several other relatives also died in the...