Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Insured Loss Estimates from California Wildfires Now up to $8 Billion
Oct 27 2017 // Insured losses from the siege of California wildfires could possibly reach $8 billion, according to new estimates released on Friday by catastrophe modeler RMS. The firm now estimates the insured loss for the wildfires...
Florida’s Hurricane Irma Recovery Tab Tops $650M
Oct 27 2017 // The tab for Hurricane Irma keeps rising, and Florida legislators are warning that it could require some tough budget choices for next year. Gov. Rick Scott’s budget director told a Senate panel on Wednesday that the...
Munich Re Expects Q3 Loss After Hurricane Claims of $3.2B
Oct 26 2017 // Munich Re expects claims of €2.7 billion ($3.2 billion) from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, which will lead to a third quarter loss of €1.4 billion. The group said it expects a small profit for the full year, as...
Best Areas in U.S. to Live to Avoid Natural Disasters
Oct 26 2017 // Tired of living with hurricanes, tornadoes or floods? Head to Portland, Salt Lake City or Providence. Or California. Yes, California. Portland, Oregon is the safest place to live to avoid hazardous weather; three of the...
Severe Weather in Carolinas Brings Tornadoes, Power Outages
Oct 26 2017 // A National Weather Service team confirmed Tuesday that two tornadoes touched down in South Carolina during an outbreak of severe weather that flipped tractor-trailers and small planes, washed out roads and left thousands...
Florida Insurance Agents Recount Hurricane Irma’s Personal Impact
Oct 26 2017 // It’s been just over a month since Hurricane Irma hit Florida, and it won’t be forgotten in Florida by anyone anytime soon, especially not by those in the insurance industry. The powerful storm made landfall...
Officials Confirm Oklahoma Casino Hit with EF1 Tornado
Oct 25 2017 // Emergency managers say an Oklahoma casino had part of its roof torn off by an EF1 tornado during a concert that the state’s governor was attending. The twister touched down in Cleveland County, one of several...
XL Group Q3 Reports Losses in Excess of $1B on Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria
Oct 25 2017 // XL Group reported losses exceeding $1 billion for the 2017 third quarter, blaming Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria for the results. The net loss of $1.04 billion for Q3 amounted to negative-$4.06 per fully diluted share,...
Oklahoma’s Tornado King Ordered to Return More than $100K in Embezzlement Scheme
Oct 24 2017 // Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter says William Stephens, the owner of Tornado King, a storm shelter manufacturing and installation company, pleaded no contest to six counts of embezzlement and one count of a pattern of...
Oklahoma Energy Companies Settle Suit over Earthquake Damage
Oct 24 2017 // A settlement has been reached between two Oklahoma oil and natural gas companies and a woman injured in a 2011 earthquake. Prague resident Sandra Ladra filed the lawsuit in 2014 against New Dominion LLC, Spess Oil Co. and...
California’s Wine Industry Taking Stock of Losses After Wildfires
Oct 23 2017 // Although still burning, the largest fires that have devastated California wine country are mostly contained, and winemakers, winery owners, and growers began taking stock this week of what they have—and...
CoreLogic: Hurricane Nate Property Damage Could Top $1B
Oct 23 2017 // Hurricane Nate preliminary loss estimates are estimated to be between $650 million and $1.35 billion, according to CoreLogic. The loss estimates were calculated based on data analysis, total insured and uninsured loss for...
Texas Windstorm Insurance Association Request to Raise Liability Limits Disapproved
Oct 20 2017 // Texas Insurance Commissioner Kent Sullivan has declined to approve a request by the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association to raise the maximum limits of liability on windstorm and hail policies. TWIA in August filed a...
Swiss Re Estimates $3.6B in Claims from U.S. Hurricanes & Mexican Quakes
Oct 20 2017 // Swiss Re, the world’s second-largest reinsurer, estimated its claims burden from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria in the United States and from two earthquakes in Mexico at roughly $3.6 billion in the third...
Northern California Wildfires: Insurance Industry Ready to Assist With ‘Massive’ Recovery
Oct 20 2017 // Rebuilding the Northern California areas devastated by wildfire will be a long-term effort, and insurers say they will be there to help their affected policyholders get back on their feet. Tens of thousands of evacuees...
Early Data Shows Insured Losses from California Wildfires Already at $1B and Growing
Oct 19 2017 // Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones today released preliminary data provided by eight California insurers processing claims for tens of thousands of policyholders that shows $1.045 billion in losses to commercial and...
In ‘Energy City’ USA, Hurricane Harvey’s Fury Lingers
Oct 19 2017 // It took five weeks for the largest U.S. oil refinery to get back to normal after Hurricane Harvey. It’s taking Port Arthur, Texas, a lot longer. Nearly two months after Harvey inundated Port Arthur, a crucial hub of...
Zurich Estimates Claims of US$700M from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma & Maria
Oct 19 2017 // Zurich Insurance Group estimates that Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria will aggregate claims in the third quarter of approximately US$700 million, net of reinsurance and before tax. After tax, the losses are expected to...
Does a CPP Cover Trees Knocked Over by a Hurricane?
Oct 18 2017 // Last week we entered into a discussion of downed trees, in particular, trees downed by a hurricane. We spent our time dealing with the HO-3 policy and how it responds. If you didn’t catch that, take a look at last...
Georgia Estimates $550M in Insured Losses from Hurricane Irma
Oct 18 2017 // Georgia’s estimated insured losses from Hurricane Irma have climbed to more than $550 million, with insurers reporting approximately 103,163 claims filed so far, according to Georgia Insurance Commissioner Ralph...
