Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Public Adjusters Take the Heat for Reopened Hurricane Claims
Jul 7 2008 // Public adjusters are being blamed for thousands of unresolved insurance claims in Florida dating back to the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons. A Florida task force monitoring how state-backed Citizens Property Insurance...
Firefighters in Stalemate Against Calif. Wildfires
Jul 7 2008 // Firefighters have battled hundreds of wildfires burning throughout Northern California to a stalemate in the past month, but forecasters say dangerous fire conditions will not relent anytime soon. While it is still too...
Hurricane Center Tracking ‘Tropical Wave’ in Atlantic Ocean
Jul 2 2008 // The National Hurricane Center in Miami said it is currently tracking a “strong tropical wave over the extreme eastern Atlantic Ocean about 330 miles southeast of Sal in the Cape Verde Islands.” The NHC said...
California Workers’ Comp Insurer Extends Credit to Wildfire Victims
Jul 2 2008 // California State Compensation Insurance Fund announced that it will extend credit to policyholders who have suffered a financial loss or business disruption caused by the hundreds of wildfires burning throughout...
Firefighters in Stalemate Against Calif. Wildfires
Jul 1 2008 // Firefighters have battled more than a thousand wildfires burning throughout Northern California to a stalemate, but forecasters said dangerous fire conditions will not relent anytime soon. No new major fires had broken out...
Willis Research Network Joins in California Earthquake Study
Jun 30 2008 // The Willis Research Network, part of Willis Group Holdings Ltd., the global insurance broker, has joined with the U.S. Geological Survey and the California Geological Survey to develop a scenario that shows how a magnitude...
Hurricane Chief: Funds, Research Can Improve Hurricane Forecasting
Jun 26 2008 // The National Hurricane Center’s director says his organization would need tens of millions of dollars over the next decade for research to reduce substantially the errors in forecasting the intensity of...
Update: North Carolina Wildfire Costs Reach $4.9 Million
Jun 23 2008 // The cost to fight a massive wildfire in eastern North Carolina is going up. Fire command center spokesman Dean McAlister said June 19 the costs have reached $4.9 million. Officials battling the fire in and around the...
80 Dead in Philippine Typhoon; Over 700 Missing from Stricken Ferry
Jun 23 2008 // Worried relatives wept Sunday as they awaited news of more than 740 passengers and crew aboard a ferry that capsized as Typhoon Fengshen swamped the Philippines, killing more than 80 people and submerging entire...
HCC Forms Earthquake Division and Crime Coverage Bond Unit
Jun 23 2008 // Houston-based HCC Insurance Holdings Inc. appointed Todd Ruyak and Eric Mihailovich senior vice presidents of the company’s newly formed Professional Indemnity Agency Inc. (PIA) Property Division, reporting to PIA...
RenRe Hosts Hurricane Risk Mitigation Leadership Forum
Jun 20 2008 // Bermuda’s RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. marked the start of the 2008 hurricane season by holding a seminar, the first ever “Hurricane Risk Mitigation Leadership Forum”, which announced some key findings on...
AIG Private Client Group Expands Wildfire Protection Services
Jun 19 2008 // AIG Private Client Group, a division of the personal lines property and casualty insurance subsidiaries of American International Group Inc., announced that its Wildfire Protection Unit service has doubled the number of...
Iowa Scout Camp Hit by Tornado Closes, Insurance Adjusters Tour Site
Jun 19 2008 // Officials with the Boy Scouts of America say the Little Sioux Scout Ranch in western Iowa will be closed for the summer following a deadly tornado that hit it on June 11. Four Boy Scouts were killed and nearly 50 others...
Harris County Leads Texas in Number of Tornadoes
Jun 19 2008 // Harris County has had almost twice as many tornadoes reported than any other county in the state according to a recent survey conducted by the Insurance Council of Texas (ICT). Despite its location south of what is...
Insured Property Value in Hurricane-Prone States to Double in 10 Years
Jun 17 2008 // In the past three years, the insured value of properties in coastal areas of the United States continued to grow at a compound annual growth rate of just over 7 percent, according to a new report released by AIR Worldwide...
Hurricane Forecasts Have Limited Value
Jun 16 2008 // They May Help the Public Think About Upcoming Storms But Forecasts Have Been Largely Misused by National Media, Says One Expert Each April, weather wizard William Gray emerges from his burrow deep in the Rocky Mountains to...
Death Toll Stands at 10 in Aftermath of Midwest Tornadoes, Flooding
Jun 16 2008 // The death toll now stands at 10 in the Midwest as tornadoes, severe thunder storms and flooding hit Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin beginning June 6. States battled tornadoes that touched down in multiple areas, heavy...
Hurricane Forecasts Have Limited Value for Planners, Insurers
Jun 16 2008 // They May Help the Public Think About Upcoming Storms But Forecasts Have Been Largely Misused by National Media, Says One Expert Each April, weather wizard William Gray emerges from his burrow deep in the Rocky Mountains to...
North Carolina Wildfire Could Burn for Months
Jun 16 2008 // Fire officials warned people living near a massive wildfire at a federal wildlife refuge in eastern North Carolina that the blaze could smolder for months in the peat-filled soil. The fire burned about 30,000 acres in and...
Cost of Claims From Hailstorms in Oklahoma Could Top $20M
Jun 16 2008 // Hail damage claims from storms that hit Oklahoma in early June could easily top $20 million, an insurance industry source says, matching the cost of a similar storm in April. Meanwhile, nearly 1,260 electric company...
