Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Report Shows Nearly 5 Million Homes Endangered by Wildfires
Dec 2 2013 // More than 4.5 million U.S. households are at high or extreme risk from wildfire, according to new analysis by Verisk Insurance Solutions – Underwriting, a unit of Verisk Analytics. The analysis identified the number...
Weak 2013 Hurricane Season Coming to a Close
Nov 27 2013 // The 2013 Atlantic season has delivered the fewest hurricanes since 1982, U.S. forecasters said, despite their predictions in May that it would be a busier than normal year. Forecasters had predicted 13 to 20 named Atlantic...
New Map Predicts Tsunami Effects On Alaska City
Nov 25 2013 // The state has released a tsunami inundation map for Sitka, Alaska showing the estimated high-water mark in the event of a tsunami. But Sitka Fire Chief Dave Miller said not to take the map as the final word on how high the...
Indiana Businesses Work to Recover from Tornadoes
Nov 22 2013 // Dan May has already found a location to temporarily set up his law office and his daughter’s art gallery that were destroyed by a tornado that swept through Kokomo, Ind., but he’s concerned about what other...
Colorado State Running Out of Money for Hurricane Forecasting
Nov 21 2013 // Colorado State University, which pioneered seasonal hurricane forecasting 30 years ago, may have issued its last prediction. The school’s Tropical Meteorological Project needs $150,000 or it will end in February,...
National Building, Communications Standards Recommended for Tornado Safety
Nov 21 2013 // National standards should be set for building construction, storm shelters and emergency communications to reduce death and damage from tornados, a federal agency that studied the deadly 2011 tornado in Joplin, Missouri,...
New Assessment: At Least 15 Tornadoes Hit Illinois
Nov 21 2013 // New damage assessments from the National Weather Service show that at least 15 tornadoes hit Illinois during the outbreak of violent storms on Nov. 17. Central parts of the state had the most with seven twisters, including...
Hundreds of Homes Destroyed by Midwest Tornado Outbreak: AIR
Nov 19 2013 // Hundreds of homes were flattened by the outbreak of intense late-season thunderstorms accompanied by high winds, quarter-to-baseball sized hail, and dozens of tornadoes that swept across the Midwest on Nov. 17, according...
Insured Loss for Midwest’s Rare November Tornadoes Could Top $1B: RMS
Nov 19 2013 // The Nov. 17 tornadoes in the Midwest could become the insurance industry’s first billion-dollar severe weather event to occur in November, according to catastrophe modeling firm RMS. According to Matthew Nielsen, RMS...
12 Indiana Counties Report Tornadoes or Damage
Nov 18 2013 // Severe thunderstorms packing tornadoes and heavy winds rolled across Indiana on Sunday, injuring at least one person and causing widespread damage. Gov. Mike Pence said 12 counties reported either tornadoes or damage after...
Scientists Develop Breakthrough Computer Forecasting Models for Wildfires
Nov 18 2013 // Scientists have developed a new computer modeling technique that offers the promise, for the first time, of producing continually updated daylong predictions of wildfire growth throughout the lifetime of long-lived...
Will Hurricane Katrina Legal Issues Be Resurrected in Sandy Claims?
Nov 18 2013 // It has been more than eight years since Hurricane Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29, 2005, and only slightly more than one year since Hurricane Sandy made landfall on or about Oct. 29, 2012. Following Hurricane Katrina,...
Philippine Typhoon Haiyan’s Cost to Insurers Estimated at $300-$700 Million: AIR
Nov 17 2013 // Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms to hit land, may cost insurers as much as $700 million in the Philippines, a fraction of estimated damage, because few people are covered, a catastrophe modeler said. Total...
UPDATE: AIR Worldwide on Typhoon Haiyan’s Catastrophic Destruction
Nov 11 2013 // According to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide, in the three days since Super Typhoon Haiyan roared through the central Philippines, the scale of the devastation revealed in its wake continues to...
Oklahoma City Hosts 3rd Annual National Tornado Summit
Nov 11 2013 // Insurance industry professionals, emergency managers, policymakers and weather experts are invited to attend the 3rd annual National Tornado Summit in Oklahoma City Feb. 10-11. The National Tornado Summit includes...
Record Typhoon Again Shows Philippines Most at Risk for Natural Hazards
Nov 10 2013 // Destruction from Super Typhoon Haiyan, the most powerful storm on record to strike the Philippines, shows the task facing President Benigno Aquino to curb the death toll in a country prone to natural disasters. The...
Philippine Typhoon Haiyan Deaths Could Reach 10,000; City, Villages Ravaged
Nov 10 2013 // One of the most powerful storms ever recorded killed at least 10,000 people in the central Philippines, a senior police official said on Sunday, with huge waves sweeping away coastal villages and devastating one of the...
Windstorm Christian Tops Impact Forecasting’s Monthly Cat Report
Nov 8 2013 // In its monthly Global Catastrophe Recap report Impact Forecasting, the catastrophe model development center of excellence at Aon Benfield, highlights the damage caused by Windstorm Christian as it moved across western and...
AIR Analyzes Potential Impact of Super Typhoon Haiyan on Philippines
Nov 8 2013 // Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide issued a bulletin shortly before Super Typhoon Haiyan [known locally as Yolanda] came ashore across the central Philippines. As predicted the extremely powerful storm – the...
Super Typhoon Haiyan Slams into Central Philippines; Millions Flee
Nov 8 2013 // The strongest typhoon in the world this year and possibly the most powerful ever to hit land, battered the central Philippines on Friday, forcing millions of people to flee to safer ground, cutting power lines and blowing...
