Latest Natural Disasters Headlines

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

Pacific Tsunami Museum in Hawaii Reopening Following Renovations

Jun 14 2021 // The Pacific Tsunami Museum plans to reopen from a coronavirus pandemic-triggered shutdown by the end of the summer after finishing substantial renovations. The downtown Hilo museum is working on relocating and renovating...

May’s Global Disasters Include Hailstorms, Floods, Cyclones, Quakes, Volcanic Eruption

Jun 11 2021 // U.S. insurers face a multi-billion-dollar payout from May’s convective storms, which spawned extensive hail, tornado, wind and flood damage across a series of separate events during the month, according to broker Aon...

Road Work Started Wildfire in Arizona Mining Town, Sheriff Says

Jun 11 2021 // A May 27 wildfire that destroyed or damaged 24 homes and threatened many other structures in the remote mining town of Bagdad was caused by construction equipment being used for road work, the Yavapai County...

Crews Battle Arizona Wildfire Threatening Communities

Jun 10 2021 // Firefighters in south-central Arizona have gained a toehold against a massive wildfire that has burned at least five structures and forced thousands of people to evacuate rural towns and shut down several highways. The...

Version 21.0 of RMS North Atlantic Hurricane Models Certified by Florida Hurricane Commission on Loss Projection Methodology

Jun 10 2021 // RMS remains first and only risk modeling company to offer hurricane models certified by the FCHPLM on both on-premises software and a cloud platform simultaneously Newark, Calif. – June 10, 2021 – Today, RMS, the...

Colorado Tornado Damaged Home, Downed Power Lines

Jun 9 2021 // A tornado that touched down in a largely rural area of northern Colorado on Monday damaged at least one home and brought down power poles and lines, authorities said. No injuries were reported. One home was damaged in a...

Earthquake Recorded in Southern South Dakota, No Damage Reported

Jun 7 2021 // Officials say an earthquake occurred in southern South Dakota, though no damage was reported. The United States Geological Survey said the 3.7 magnitude quake happened at 10:25 a.m. Friday just north of the South Dakota...

Magnitude 3.9 Earthquake Struck Communities in Oregon

Jun 7 2021 // People in communities near Mt. Hood, Ore., reported feeling a moderate earthquake Saturday night, the Oregoniann/Oregonlive.com reported. The magnitude 3.9 earthquake hit less than four miles northeast of Government Camp,...

Close Calls in Colorado Spark Push for Wildfire Mitigation

Jun 7 2021 // As the Missionary Ridge Fire raged in 2002, the Valley Fire, a second fire, broke out and destroyed six homes within hours near the Falls Creek Ranch subdivision north of Durango. When residents returned after the Valley...

Western U.S. Wildfires Have Made Insurance Tough for Contractors

Jun 7 2021 // Things look bad with California’s ever-sooner wildfire season seemingly approaching and what’s shaping up to be a severe drought across the Western U.S. The plague of wildfires in the past few years in...

Willis Towers Watson Collaborates on Hurricane Insurance for Endangered Coral Reef

Jun 4 2021 // Insurance broker Willis Tower Watson announced the launch of a multinational partnership to develop and implement insurance solutions that help protect and restore the endangered 1,000 kilometer (621 mile) barrier reef...

Hawaii Eying Evacuation Plan for Mauna Loa Volcano

Jun 3 2021 // Hawaii is creating an emergency evacuation plan for the Big Island in preparation for the next eruption of the largest active volcano on Earth. A state Senate resolution adopted in March asks the state’s emergency...

Magnitude 6.1 Earthquake Confirmed in Alaska

Jun 2 2021 // A magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook Alaska’s Talkeetna Mountains north of Anchorage Sunday night and smaller tremors continued early Monday, the US Geological Survey confirmed. The earthquake was felt from Homer to...

U.S. Western States Preparing for Summer Wildfire Season

Jun 1 2021 // Wearing soot-smudged, fire-resistant clothing and helmets, several wildland firefighters armed with hoes moved through a stand of ponderosa pines as flames tore through the underbrush. The firefighters weren’t there...

PG&E to Pay $150M for Botched Outages, California Wildfires

May 28 2021 // Pacific Gas & Electric is getting hit with a nearly $150 million bill for neglect that caused Northern California wildfires during the past two years and mismanagement of blackouts designed to prevent the...

Tornado Damages Buildings in Northwest Kansas Town

May 26 2021 // A tornado caused lots of property damage, but no serious injuries, in the northwestern Kansas town of Selden as strong storms raked the area, the National Weather Service said. Sheridan County officials reported the...

California Seeing More Wildfires as Drought Intensifies

May 26 2021 // As California sinks deeper into drought it already has had more than 900 additional wildfires than at this point in 2020, which was a record-breaking year that saw more than 4% of the state’s land scorched by...

Western U.S. Wildfires Have Made Insurance for Contractors a Tough Buy

May 25 2021 // Things look bad with California’s ever-sooner wildfire season seemingly approaching and what’s shaping up to be a severe drought across the Western U.S. The plague of wildfires in the past few years in...

It Doesn’t Take a Hurricane to Cause a Flood

May 25 2021 // Flooding is the costliest — and the most common — natural disaster to significantly impact communities across the United States, The PEW Charitable Trusts notes in reporting on flood-prepared communities. Flood events...

Earthquake Hits Beneath South Flank of Hawaii Volcano

May 25 2021 // A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck Sunday beneath the south flank of Kilauea Volcano on the island of Hawaii, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory confirmed. The earthquake was centered about 9...