Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Amid Clean up From LA Wildfires, Some Residents Furious Over Hazardous Waste
Feb 3 2025 // Not far from where Ceci Carroll lives, a rock-mining company has polluted the air with dust across the San Gabriel Valley, she said. Now, as crews clean charred remains from the Los Angeles wildfires, she worries about a...
Property-Catastrophe Reinsurance Rates Will Stop Dropping Post Wildfires: Execs
Feb 3 2025 // RenaissanceRe expects to incur about $750 million in losses from the January 2025 California wildfires—and anticipates that industrywide impacts should halt the drop in property-catastrophe reinsurance prices observed at...
Hawaii Wildfire Victims Spared From Testifying After Deal Over $4B Settlement
Jan 31 2025 // Lawyers representing victims of a deadly Hawaii wildfire reached a last-minute deal averting a trial that was scheduled to begin Wednesday over how to split a $4 billion settlement. The agreement means victims and...
Insurance Payouts at $4 Billion and Counting for LA Wildfires
Jan 30 2025 // Preliminary data show insurance companies have paid out more than $4 billion for losses from the biggest two of the Los Angeles-area wildfires that swept through the region and destroyed tens of thousands of homes earlier...
US Economic Losses From Natural Disasters Soared in 2024
Jan 29 2025 // Economic losses from hurricanes and other natural disasters soared in the U.S. last year and were above average globally, reflecting another year of costly severe storms, floods and droughts. Damage caused by Hurricanes...
Earthquake in Maine Rattles Houses, Nerves Across Northeast
Jan 28 2025 // A 3.8-magnitude earthquake centered near the southern Maine coast rattled houses in northern New England on Monday and was felt by surprised residents of states hundreds of miles away. The earthquake took place at about...
Southern California Edison: Details on Transmission Lines in Eaton Amid Wildfire Probe
Jan 28 2025 // Southern California Edison, a unit of utility Edison International, said on Monday preliminary analysis of data showed a “momentary and expected increase in current” on its energized lines in the Eaton Canyon...
Insured Losses From Natural Disasters Hit $140B as Climate Change ‘Shows Its Claws’
Jan 27 2025 // Insurers saw the third most expensive year for natural catastrophe losses in 2024 — reaching a total of $140 billion — as climate change “is showing its claws,” according to Munich Re. Overall...
LA Wildfires by the Numbers: Insured Losses, Total Losses, Ratings, Rates
Jan 24 2025 // The impact of the historic Los Angeles-area wildfires is being broadly examined and continually refined, with updates almost daily on insured losses, total economic losses and damages, credit ratings—and lately worrying...
LA Fires Could Consume 30% of European Reinsurers’ Natural Disaster Budgets: Fitch
Jan 24 2025 // The Los Angeles wildfires could consume more than 30% of the aggregate natural catastrophe budgets set for 2025 by Europe’s four largest reinsurers – Swiss Re, Munich Re, Hannover Re and SCOR, according to a Fitch...
Insurance Commissioner Orders Advance Payments on Claims for LA Wildfire Survivors
Jan 23 2025 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara is asking all California insurance companies to provide advance payments on claims for Los Angeles wildfire survivors. Lara’s order is designed to help speed the...
Moody’s Expects LA Wildfires to Increase Property Insurance Costs Across State
Jan 23 2025 // Moody’s Ratings said in a report on Thursday that it expects the Los Angeles wildfires to increase property insurance costs across California. According to Moody’s, the state’s already noticeable...
Descartes Launches Parametric Tornado Coverage for Solar Farms
Jan 23 2025 // Descartes Underwriting has announced the launch of a parametric insurance product to protect utility-scale solar farms against tornado damage. According to a press release, the coverage uses satellite data and analytics to...
KCC Estimates Losses From Palisades and Eaton Wildfires to Be Near $28B
Jan 23 2025 // Catastrophe modeler KCC said insured loss from privately insured and California FAIR plan policies to residential, commercial and industrial properties, and autos from the Palisades and Eaton Fires will be close to $28...
New Wildfires Erupt in California, Forcing Thousands to Evacuate
Jan 23 2025 // Two new wildfires that erupted in Southern California are spreading quickly over dry hillsides and forcing evacuations, stoking new fears in a region that’s been devastated by recent deadly blazes. The Hughes Fire,...
Insurtechs’ Approach to Wildfire Insurance: Part III – Faura
Jan 23 2025 // While the Los Angeles wildfires inch closer toward containment, estimates of insured losses continue to creep higher. CoreLogic said the industry price tag of the Palisades and Eaton fires could land between $35 billion...
Ash Left Behind by LA Wildfires Might Be Toxic, Experts Warn
Jan 23 2025 // Toni Boucher threw up the first time she saw the charred remains of her home and neighborhood after this month’s deadly Los Angeles-area wildfires. Now she wonders if it’s worth it to go back to sift through...
Wildfire-Risk Models Are Struggling to Predict LA-Style Fires
Jan 22 2025 // Among natural disasters, wildfires are the great unknown. Even the most-sophisticated scientific models fail to capture all the risk factors or properly account for the increasing impact of climate change. It’s a...
Insurtechs’ Approach to Wildfire Insurance: Part II – Kettle
Jan 22 2025 // While the Los Angeles wildfires inch closer toward containment, estimates of insured losses continue to creep higher. CoreLogic said the industry price tag of the Palisades and Eaton fires could land between $35 billion...
Growing Concerns About Wildfires in Carolina Thanks to Kindling Left by Helene
Jan 22 2025 // As southern California continues to suffer from wildfires, officials in another part of the country fear their area could be next – thanks to tons of dry wood left over from Hurricane Helene’s wind and...
