Latest Natural Disasters Headlines

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

Tornadoes Survival Tips from Texas to Nebraska

May 11 2016 // Storms swept through the nation’s midsection Monday, spawning numerous tornadoes. While tornadoes can form any time weather conditions are right, the area from Texas to Nebraska typically sees tornadoes between April...

Alberta Wildfires Spare Almost 90% of Fort McMurray, Canada’s Energy Hub

May 10 2016 // The massive wildfires that swept through Canada’s energy hub of Fort McMurray left almost 90 percent of the city intact, including most of the downtown core, while completely leveling some neighborhoods. “This...

Alberta Wildfires Could Hit Canada Economy Harder than Hurricane Katrina in US

May 10 2016 // Intact Financial Corp. may post insured losses of as much as C$1.1 billion ($850 million) from the wildfires in Alberta, which could dent the Canadian economy harder than Hurricane Katrina hit the U.S. Intact,...

South Dakota City Set to Observe Tornado Anniversary

May 9 2016 // A full day of activities is planned in Delmont, S.D. on Tuesday to observe the one-year anniversary of the tornado that damaged the city. On the morning of May 10, 2015, an EF-2 tornado struck the city and damaged or...

$330K In Tornado Damage in Oklahoma County: Assessor

May 9 2016 // The Oklahoma County Assessor’s Office says a tornado that hit parts of Oklahoma County last week caused more than $330,000 in damage. The assessor’s office said Friday that it surveyed damage at five...

Costly Alberta Wildfires to Hit Q2 Results; Insurers Are Resilient: Ratings Reports

May 9 2016 // While the wildfires raging through northern Alberta and the city of Fort McMurray could bring one of the largest catastrophe losses in Canadian history, property insurers are resilient, according to A.M. Best and...

Drones Will Be Used to Investigate Cause of Alberta Wildfires

May 9 2016 // Fire-ravaged Alberta will use drones to investigate the cause of a huge blaze that has scorched the Canadian province and displaced some 88,000 people. Elevated Robotic Services, which has also deployed drones for mining...

Alberta Wildfires Set to Veer from Oil Sands Operations, Spreading More Slowly

May 9 2016 // Wildfires raging through Alberta are set to move away from the main oil-sands facilities north of Fort McMurray after knocking out an estimated 1 million barrels of production from Canada’s energy hub. A cold front...

Weather Service Confirms Tornado Near Wilmington, North Carolina

May 9 2016 // The National Weather Service says a tornado struck northern New Hanover County, uprooting trees and damaging some homes. The storm hit in the Ogden area about 2:30 p.m. Thursday. The National Weather Service in Wilmington...

Weather Service Confirms Weak Tornado Stuck Western Indiana

May 6 2016 // The National Weather Service confirmed this week that a tornado touched down briefly in western Indiana on Sunday. The weather service rated the tornado as an EF-0, estimating it had peak winds of 70 mph. The weather...

Alberta Wildfire Insured Losses Could Total $7.3B, Covering Area Bigger Than NYC

May 6 2016 // The wildfires ravaging Canada’s oil hub in northern Alberta have rapidly spread to an area bigger than New York city, prompting the air lift of more than 8,000 evacuees as firefighters seek to salvage critical...

Earthquake Resilience Topic at Southern California Conference

May 5 2016 // Most people aren’t prepared for the big one. If there was one common theme at a three-day earthquake conference in downtown Long Beach, Calif., that was it. The National Earthquake Conference, which runs through...

Natural Disaster Losses Hit Five-Year High in April: Aon Catastrophe Report

May 5 2016 // The global economy suffered the worst April natural disaster losses for five years, according to Impact Forecasting, Aon Benfield’s catastrophe model development team. Earthquakes, convective storms and flooding...

Alberta Wildfire Could Become Canada’s Costliest Natural Catastrophe

May 5 2016 // A wildfire in the Alberta city of Fort McMurray is set to become the costliest ever Canadian natural disaster for insurers, with 1,600 buildings destroyed and another 19,000 under threat, analysts and industry sources...

Officials: 9 Tornadoes in Oklahoma, Arkansas Last Week

May 5 2016 // Meteorologists have identified tornado damage in Muskogee County nearly a week after a string of at least nine weak tornadoes across northeastern Oklahoma and Arkansas. The Tulsa World reports that the National Weather...

Louisiana Tornado Confirmed by Weather Service

May 4 2016 // The National Weather Service confirms that a tornado hit rural parts of northern St. Landry Parish and southern Avoyelles Parish in Louisiana on Saturday. Forecaster Jonathan Brazzell said Sunday that the Weather Service...

Update: Canadian Wildfire Rages, Leading to Evacuation of 80,000 People

May 4 2016 // Fire raged unchecked through the Canadian city of Fort McMurray overnight as authorities raced to complete the evacuation of its population of 80,000, fearful that hot, dry winds forecast for Wednesday would further fan...

Utah Earthquake Country Examined

May 2 2016 // Signs of earthquakes are everywhere in the chaotically beautiful geology of southwest Utah and the region where the mile-high Colorado Plateau falls off into the corrugated Basin-and-Range landscape that dominates...

XL Catlin Names Huang as Asia U/W Manager, War, Terrorism & Political Violence

May 2 2016 // XL Catlin’s insurance operations announced that Carrie Huang has been promoted to the position of Asia underwriting manager for War, Terrorism and Political Violence. Based in Singapore, she will be responsible for...

3.0 Earthquake Hits Western Alabama

May 2 2016 // No injuries are being reported following a small earthquake in Alabama’s Tuscaloosa County. The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude 3.0 earthquake occurred around 4 a.m. Friday about halfway between Tuscaloosa...