Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Safety Measure May Have Sparked SoCal Wildfire
May 12 2009 // A wildfire that destroyed dozens of homes is 70 percent contained and firefighters are mopping up hot spots. Fire officials released updated figures, saying the 13-square-mile blaze had destroyed 77 homes, damaged 22...
AIU Offers Hurricane Resources in 2 South Carolina Counties
May 12 2009 // Homeowners in the South Carolina counties of Charleston and Beaufort who purchase homeowners policies from AIU Holdings’ Private Client Group can now access the advanced disaster preparedness and post-hurricane...
Santa Barbara Wildfire Increase 448%, Insurers Ready for Calls
May 8 2009 // A wildfire that began on May 5 in Santa Barbara County, Calif., continues to burn, increasing 448 percent from 500 acres burned yesterday to 2,739 acres burned and at least 20 homes destroyed as of this morning, according...
Chubb Helps to Protect Homes from Santa Barbara Wildfire
May 8 2009 // As the wildfire in Santa Barbara, CA, expands in scope and intensity, the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies has stepped up measures to help protect its homeowners insurance customers’ properties. Earlier this week,...
RMS Performs Risk Analysis for Ibis Re Hurricane Cat Bond
May 7 2009 // Risk Management Solutions has completed the expert modeling analysis in connection with the securities offering undertaken by Ibis Re Ltd., a special purpose reinsurance company domiciled in the Cayman Islands. “The...
Improved Credit Markets Could Aid Shaky Florida Hurricane Fund
May 4 2009 // The Florida Cabinet received a bit of encouraging news recently about the state’s tenuous hurricane catastrophe fund when the head of Florida’s investments told them a loosening credit market provides the...
2009 California, Washington Wildfire Activity Predicted To Be Above Normal
May 4 2009 // Northern California, where nearly a million acres burned last summer, is poised to possibly be another hotspot for wildfire activity in 2009, according to the Fire Season Outlook released by the Predictive Services group...
Texas Senate Approves Windstorm Bill
May 4 2009 // The Texas Senate approved a new structure for the state’s depleted windstorm insurance fund last week, providing a combination of potential rate hikes, bonding and other revenue to ensure the account gets...
Forecaster WSI Reduces 2009 Season Hurricane Count to Six
May 4 2009 // The 2009 Atlantic hurricane season will produce 11 tropical storms, of which six will become hurricanes, WSI Corp predicts. The Andover, Massachusetts, private forecaster reduced its forecast from the one it issued in...
UMass Engineers Deploy Special Radar to Midwest’s ‘Tornado Alley’
Apr 29 2009 // As part of the largest, most ambitious attempt ever launched to figure out how tornadoes form and how to predict them more accurately, engineers from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst this week are readying two...
Gulf States Prepare Together for Hurricane Season
Apr 29 2009 // Officials from three states of the Gulf Coast are meeting this week to discuss preparations for hurricane season. The 2009 Gulf States Hurricane Conference is being held Wednesday through Friday at the Coast Coliseum and...
Insurance Claims from South Carolina Wildfire to Top $25 Million
Apr 29 2009 // Insurance companies expect claims from a South Carolina wildfire that has destroyed more than 70 homes near the coast to top $25 million. Allison Dean Love with the South Carolina Insurance News Service said the $25...
Small Earthquake Hits New Hampshire’s Lakes Region
Apr 29 2009 // New Hampshire’s state geologist says a small earthquake recorded in the Lakes Region is the most recent in a long line of seismic activity. The U.S. Geological Survey reported that a quake with a Magnitude of 2.1 was...
Myrtle Beach Property Owners Add Wildfire to Hurricane Risk
Apr 28 2009 // They flock from other states and climes to the coast known as the Grand Strand, first as tourists, and later as residents, captivated by ocean views, rolling green fairways and the relaxed lifestyle. Most knew that an...
Experts Predict Mild Alaska Wildfire Season
Apr 28 2009 // Fire forecasters for the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center are predicting a rather mild wildfire season this summer. However, Dave Curry, manager of the agency that coordinates firefighting efforts for the state,...
South Carolina Gov. Sanford Backs Cut in Wildfire Fighting Budget
Apr 27 2009 // South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is not backing down from his proposal to trim $1 million in state spending from wildfire fighting, even as damages mount in a fire near Myrtle Beach. Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said that...
Mississippi to Study Hurricane Mitigation Efforts’ Costs, Benefits
Apr 24 2009 // Mississippi has hired a wind engineering firm to assess the various steps that property owners might take to reduce damage from hurricanes. Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney and wind engineering firm AIR...
Wildfire Burns Homes Near South Carolina’s Myrtle Beach
Apr 24 2009 // A coastal wildfire spread early Thursday toward one of the busiest tourist stretches in South Carolina, burning dozens of homes and forcing hundreds to flee in the middle of the night. No injuries were reported. Police...
Texas Agents Rate Companies on 2008 Hurricane Response
Apr 24 2009 // Insurance companies responding to last year’s hurricanes Dolly and Ike were given generally good marks by independent agents along the Texas coast in a recent member survey by the Independent Insurance Agents of...
California AIG Sylmar Wildfire Survivors To Receive Additional Coverage
Apr 22 2009 // The California Department of Insurance (CDI) has secured between $37 million and $46 million in additional coverage from AIG for Sayre Fire survivors in Sylmar. Commissioner Poizner was joined by Los Angeles City...
