Latest Natural Disasters Headlines

All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Rules on Stronger Earthquake Codes for Ark. on Hold for Now

Jan 7 2008 // An Arkansas legislative committee has put off a review of the state’s building code after lawmakers questioned costs related to making structures withstand earthquakes that come once every 2,500 years. Firefighters...

Statistics Based on Atlantic Hurricane Activity Can Overestimate Risk

Jan 7 2008 // New research on the link between the formation of hurricanes in the Atlantic basin and U.S. landfall activity suggests that using Atlantic basin hurricane activity as a proxy for landfall activity can lead to erroneous...

Nationwide Raises Earthquake Coverage Deductible in Ohio

Jan 4 2008 // Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. is raising the deductible on its earthquake coverage because of the risk of major losses from an earthquake. Columbus-based Nationwide is raising the deductible from 2 percent to 5 percent...

New Mexico Residents Still Recovering from March 2007 Tornado

Jan 3 2008 // Jim and Iris Blevins still think of their modest tan house surrounded by trees as their real home, but nowadays they live in a fifth-wheel behind the house — one of hundreds of eastern New Mexico homes damaged by...

Mauna Kea Beach Hotel Owners Sue Insurer for Earthquake Claim

Jan 3 2008 // The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii has sued one of its insurance carriers for denying a $20 million claim stemming from last year’s earthquakes. The hotel has been closed for repairs and...

Maryland County Pulls Plug on Earthquake Hotline

Dec 31 2007 // Maryland’s Howard County has pulled the plug on its earthquake hotline. County Fire Department Captain Ryan Miller says the county now has other ways for residents to report and receive information during a disaster....

Tornadoes Take Their Toll

Dec 23 2007 // While hurricanes stayed away, tornadoes did not. Powerful tornadoes killed at least 20 people and left a swath of central Florida in shambles in early February. It was the second-deadliest tornado in Florida history....

Natural Disasters, Fires, Floods, Fair Conduct Fueled Insurance Industry Discussions in 2007

Dec 23 2007 // While 2007 was surprisingly calm year for hurricanes, that doesn’t mean Mother Nature didn’t have a tantrum or two. In the past year, the West faced its share of disasters, with freezes, floods and fires making...

Bush Gets Terrorism Insurance Extension Bill to Sign

Dec 19 2007 // The U.S. House of Representatives has passed an extension to the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) by a vote of 360 to 53 in a form closer to what the Bush Administration and the Senate would support than to an original...

California Hosts Industry Summit Addressing Wildfire Survivor Needs

Dec 19 2007 // California Insurance Poizner hosted a roundtable meeting Tuesday with CEOs and executives of leading insurance companies to improve the recovery process for wildfire victims and announce minimum standards to reform the...

National Weather Service says Alabama at High Risk for Wildfires

Dec 19 2007 // National Weather Service forecasters and officials with the Alabama Forestry Commission say Alabama is at an unusually high risk for wildfires, despite a cold snap. The National Weather Service has issued a red flag...

Allstate Incurs More than $300 Million in Southern California Wildfire Losses

Dec 19 2007 // The Allstate Corp. reported that the company has received more than 7,000 claims from the Southern California wildfires in October of this year, resulting in approximately $315 million to $335 million in wildfire-related...

Va. Completes Installation of Hurricane Gates on Highways

Dec 18 2007 // The last of the 440 hurricane evacuation gates between Norfolk and Richmond, Va. have been installed. The Virginia Department of Transportation says the last 298 gates of the $8.7 million project finished a week early and...

Engineer Says Providence, R.I. Hurricane Barrier Needs Repairs

Dec 14 2007 // A hurricane barrier protecting downtown Providence, R.I. from floods caused by major storms needs about $20,000 in repair work. City Engineer William Bombard says a gear broke several months ago, so one of the massive...

White House Repeats Threat to Veto House Terrorism Insurance Bill

Dec 12 2007 // The Bush Administration has reasserted its opposition to a House bill that would extend the federal terrorism insurance program after it expires on Dec. 31, vowing to veto any final measure that differs measurably from the...

Hurricane Forecaster Changes Formula, Predicts Active 2008 Season

Dec 10 2007 // Using a simplified forecasting technique, researcher William Gray is predicting an above-average hurricane season in the Atlantic next year, with seven hurricanes, three of them major. Gray’s team at Colorado State...

RMS Estimates High Level of Hurricane Activity for 2008-2012

Dec 7 2007 // Risk Management Solutions has confirmed its modeled hurricane activity rates for 2008 to 2012, following “an elicitation with a group of the world’s leading hurricane researchers.” The forecast concludes...

RiskMeter Adds Florida Wildfire Report to Natural Hazard Report Service

Dec 5 2007 // Online hazard mapping firm, CDS Business Mapping LLC., added a Florida Wildfire report to its RiskMeter Online natural hazard risk report service. By typing in an address, RiskMeter’s wildfire report will return a...

Storms Threaten Southern California Wildfire Areas with Mudslides

Dec 3 2007 // Southern California’s weather turned from dangerously dry to extremely wet Friday as storms brought the threat of mudslides and flash floods to areas burned by recent wildfires, causing evacuation orders. Residents...

Malibu, Calif., Faces Wildfires, Again

Dec 2 2007 // For the second time in a little more than a month, residents in Malibu, Calif., faced destruction caused by wildfires. The coastal community had been recovering from October’s 4,565-acre Canyon Fire that destroyed...