Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Reinsurers More Likely to Report Natural Disaster Underwriting Losses: S&P
Aug 15 2017 // Things could get rougher for global reinsurers if annual natural catastrophe claims keep moving closer to the long-term average, Standard & Poor’s said in a new report. It turns out that upward trend has been...
New Software Monitors Oklahoma Bridges Following Earthquakes
Aug 14 2017 // Oklahoma transportation officials have installed a monitoring service to help prioritize bridge inspections after earthquakes. The ShakeCast software is the final stage in a two-year contract with the private firm...
Safety Concerns Keep Tulsa Business Owners Out of Tornado-Damaged Building
Aug 14 2017 // A Tulsa, Okla., building that suffered millions of dollars in damage when it was struck by a tornado recently is being assessed to determine whether it may collapse. The 20-story Remington Tower was damaged during a storm...
Officials: Failed Communications Hampered Tennessee Wildfire Response
Aug 14 2017 // Newly released records show failed communication systems hampered the response to deadly wildfires in Tennessee last fall. Records that Sevier County began to release Wednesday show that wind and fire on Nov. 28 combined...
Swiss Re: Miami Is More Vulnerable to Hurricanes Like Andrew
Aug 10 2017 // Almost 25 years have passed since a Category 5 hurricane struck south of Miami, and the city’s vulnerability to catastrophic storm damage has grown exponentially, according to a new insurance underwriters’...
Franklin Briefly Becomes Atlantic Basin’s 1st Hurricane; Weakens to Tropical Storm
Aug 10 2017 // Tropical Storm Franklin made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane in eastern Mexico during Wednesday night with estimated maximum winds of 85 mph, according to a report issued by Weather Underground. Over the Bay of...
10 Oklahoma Businesses Condemned Following Tornado Damage
Aug 9 2017 // Ten businesses in a Tulsa shopping district were so badly damaged by a weekend tornado that they have been condemned, including the TGI Fridays and Whataburger restaurants where several people were injured, city officials...
Scientists Use Tsunami Research to Help Alaska Communities Prepare
Aug 9 2017 // Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have been looking into the science behind tsunami risk for Alaska’s coastal communities. Tsunami modelers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical...
Tennesee Mountain Community Getting Back on Its Feet After Devastating Wildfire
Aug 9 2017 // Burned structures are seen from aboard a National Guard helicopter near Gatlinburg, Tenn., Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016. Thousands of people raced through a hell-like landscape to escape wildfires that killed several people and...
Tropical Storm Franklin May Become Atlantic Basin’s 1st Hurricane of 2017
Aug 8 2017 // Tropical Storm Franklin will exit Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula later today and continue moving toward the southwest Gulf of Mexico or the Bay of Campeche coast on early Thursday, possibly becoming the Atlantic...
EF-1 Tornado Confirmed in Central Georgia
Aug 8 2017 // A confirmed tornado touched down in central Georgia, uprooting trees and ripping a roof off a home. National Weather Service meteorologist Sid King tells WMAZ-TV that an EF-1 tornado hit south Macon Friday night with winds...
Updated Atlantic Hurricane Forecast Calls for More Storms as El Nino Fades
Aug 7 2017 // Researchers again boosted the number of storms the Atlantic may produce before the hurricane season ends as a missing Pacific El Nino and warm waters present favorable storm conditions. As many as 16 named storms may form...
Investigators Say Gunfire Caused Wildfire Near California’s Yosemite
Aug 7 2017 // Fire investigators say gunfire caused a wildfire near Yosemite National Park that destroyed 131 structures, including 63 homes, last month. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said that a gun fired on...
Verisk: Texas 2nd, Oklahoma 7th in Number of Households at Risk for Wildfire
Aug 7 2017 // The 2017 Verisk Wildfire Risk Analysis shows that Texas ranks second behind California for the number of households at high or extreme risk from wildfire. Using information from the 2010 U.S. Census, the study determined...
California Earthquake Authority Policy Sales up 5.4% in 2Q from Year Ago
Aug 7 2017 // Californians may be getting the idea that they live in earthquake country. That’s the underlying message that can be found in the latest figures out from the California Earthquake Authority. The CEA, a...
Tropical Storm Emily Weakens to Depression After Deluging Florida
Aug 2 2017 // Tropical Depression Emily is rumbling further out into the Atlantic, a day after slogging across the Florida peninsula. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says remnants of the brief-lived tropical storm had maximum...
Weakening Typhoon Noru Could Hit Japan This Weekend
Aug 2 2017 // A typhoon that briefly strengthened into the Northern Hemisphere’s strongest storm of the year has lost much of its punch but could still hit Japan by this weekend. Typhoon Noru was packing maximum sustained winds of...
Tropical Storm Emily Moves Across Florida With Drenching Rains
Aug 1 2017 // Tropical Storm Emily churned ashore near Tampa Bay on Monday, starting a trek across the peninsula amid drenching rains and fears of scattered street flooding that prompted the governor to declare nearly half of...
California Earthquake Authority Policy Sales up 5.4% in 2Q from Year Ago
Jul 31 2017 // Californians may be getting the idea that they live in earthquake country. That’s the underlying message that can be found in the latest figures out from the California Earthquake Authority. The CEA, a...
Air Guard Tankers Being Activated to Combat Western Wildfires
Jul 31 2017 // Air National Guard C-130s from Wyoming, Nevada and Colorado that are equipped to battle fires have been activated to fight wildfires in the Western U.S. The three large aircraft will be stationed in Fresno,...
