Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
NOAA: United States Better Prepared for Tsunamis
Dec 18 2009 // Five years since the December 2004 Sumatra Indonesia Tsunami k illed 230,000, the United States has acclerated preparation for a potential tsunami along the U.S. coastline and built partnerships for an international...
AIR Analyzes Impact of Tropical Storm Laurence on Western Australia
Dec 17 2009 // According to a report from catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide, “severe Tropical Cyclone Laurence made a second landfall this evening [Dec. 16] along the Kimberley coast of north Western Australia State....
Earthquake Early Warning System Possible
Dec 15 2009 // An earthquake early warning system for California is feasible in coming years, according to research being presented at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco this week. The ongoing study demonstrates that...
UN Reports Natural Disasters at Decade Low in 2009
Dec 14 2009 // The world this year suffered the fewest number of natural disasters in a decade, but floods, droughts and other extreme weather continued to account for most of the deaths and economic losses, according to a United Nations...
Forecasters Expect More Active Atlantic Hurricane Season Next Year
Dec 11 2009 // Colorado State University researchers are predicting a more active Atlantic hurricane season next year, with six to eight hurricanes, at least three of them major. Philip Klotzbach and William Gray predict 11 to 16 named...
Texas Windstorm Insurance Assoc. Posts New Maximum Liability Limits
Dec 10 2009 // The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) reports that new maximum limits of liability will go into effect Jan. 1, 2010. The new limits are higher than those currently in place for 2009. TWIA recommends that all...
New Board Members Named for Texas Windstorm Insurance Association
Dec 9 2009 // Texas Insurance Commissioner Mike Geeslin has announced new board members for the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA). House Bill (HB) 4409, passed by the 81st Texas Legislature in 2009, changed the composition of...
Fraudulent Claims from Hailstorm on the Rise in El Paso
Dec 7 2009 // That fraudulent insurance claims related to a severe hailstorm that hit the city of El Paso, Texas, on Sept. 16 are on the rise comes as no surprise to Ray Niblett. Niblett, an investigator for the National Insurance Crime...
Oregon Bridges Unsafe From Earthquakes
Dec 6 2009 // The outlook is not good for Oregon bridges in a major earthquake. A study released recently concludes that U.S. Highway 101 on the coast would be impassable, all connections from the coast to the Willamette Valley would be...
Swiss Re Obtains $150 Million Backup for Hurricanes, Quakes and Windstorms
Dec 3 2009 // Swiss Re announced that it has entered into a transaction with Successor X Ltd. a Cayman Islands exempted company financed through the offering of insurance-linked securities, to receive up to $150 million of...
SEC Charges Hurricane Restoration Company and Execs in Alleged Fraud
Dec 3 2009 // A Dallas and New Orleans-based hurricane restoration company that has been subject to numerous lawsuits since Hurricane Katrina, and several of the company’s executives, have been charged by the Securities and...
Quietest Atlantic Hurricane Season Since 2006 Ends
Dec 2 2009 // The Atlantic hurricane season ended this Monday with barely a whimper: Not a single hurricane came ashore in the United States. Since June, when the season began, just nine named storms developed. Only three of them became...
New Mexico Wildfire Danger is High
Dec 1 2009 // State Forester Butch Blazer is cautioning New Mexicans about fire danger in parts of the state because of mild conditions and less-than-abundant moisture. Fine grassy fuels and brush in southern and southeastern New Mexico...
‘Mild’ Tropical Storm Ida Caused Millions in Alabama Beach Damage
Nov 30 2009 // Tropical Storm Ida was a mild storm along coastal Alabama, but it still caused millions in damage to the beaches. Gulf Shores and Orange Beach officials told the Press-Register that Ida stripped several hundred thousand...
Suspect in 2003 California Wildfire Recants Confession
Nov 30 2009 // A convicted burglar has claimed in jailhouse interviews that he was badgered into confessing to starting a 2003 wildfire that burned about 1,000 homes in the foothills above San Bernardino and allegedly caused five people...
Miami Condo Association Sues QBE Insurance Over Hurricane Claims
Nov 25 2009 // A Miami condominium association is suing its insurer, QBE Insurance Corp., and its Florida general managing agent, for more than $500 million in damages, claiming bad faith and deception in handling hurricane...
Colorado Researchers Admit Missing Hurricane Prediction
Nov 24 2009 // Colorado-based weather researchers say three hurricanes formed in the Atlantic this year, two fewer than they predicted before the season and one less than their August update called for. Colorado State University...
Small Earthquake Shakes Western Maine
Nov 20 2009 // The New England Seismic Network says a small earthquake shook parts of western Maine early Thursday morning. According to Weston Observatory at Boston College, the earthquake happened at 2 a.m. and had a magnitude of...
Hawaii Unscathed by Hurricane Season
Nov 19 2009 // Hawaii is escaping the 2009 hurricane season unscathed unless a last-minute storm strikes. There are about two weeks remaining in this year’s hurricane season, which ends Nov. 30. But officials at the Central Pacific...
Oregon Bridges Unsafe from Earthquakes
Nov 18 2009 // The outlook is not good for Oregon bridges in a major earthquake. A study released Monday concludes that U.S. Highway 101 on the coast would be impassable, all connections from the coast to the Willamette Valley would be...
