Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Insurance Actuaries Prepared for Even More Damaging Hurricanes
Dec 19 2005 // Despite the unprecedented nature of the four hurricanes making landfall in Florida in 2004 and the huge disasters spawned in the Gulf of Mexico in 2005, panelists at the recent annual meeting of the Casualty Actuarial...
Historic Hurricane Year Puts the Spotlight on Federal Flood Insurance
Dec 19 2005 // Hurricanes Katrina and Rita affected the Gulf Coast as some of the strongest storms to hit the United States during the last 100 years, causing widespread devastation and flooding. In mid-January the country saw more than...
Independent Agents Feel Hurricane Katrina’s Full Force
Dec 19 2005 // Residents in many areas of the Gulf Coast watched their lives change forever on Aug. 29, 2005. When all was said and done, Hurricane Katrina went in the record books as the country’s worst natural disaster, leaving a...
Five Major Hurricanes Expected in 2006
Dec 19 2005 // Seventeen named storms could strike the Atlantic basin next year, with nine developing into hurricanes, if predictions by William Gray and Philip Klotzbach of Colorado State University based in Ft. Collins come true. They...
Liberty Mutual Hires Former 9/11 Fund Head to Mediate Hurricane Claims
Dec 19 2005 // Liberty Mutual Insurance Company has hired the mediator who oversaw the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund to help settle insurance claims filed by homeowners after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The Boston insurer’s...
A.M. Best Report: Terrorism – Too Risky Without TRIA
Dec 19 2005 // A.M. Best Co. believes terrorism is too risky without some sort of backstop to protect insurance companies providing coverage on a primary basis. The expiration of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) of 2002 without...
Calif. Court Rules in Favor of Earthquake Policyholders
Dec 18 2005 // An insurance broker was a representative for the California Fair Plan Insurance Co. with regard to the Northridge earthquake revival statute, which gave policyholders another year to file lawsuits against their insurers in...
Disaster Recovery Aid Surpasses $564.6M for Hurricane Rita
Dec 18 2005 // Families and individuals who suffered damage from Hurricane Rita have received more than $564,654,596 in assistance from state, federal, local and voluntary agencies. These agencies are working in partnership to continue...
Historic Hurricane Year Puts the Spotlight on Federal Flood Insurance
Dec 18 2005 // Hurricanes Katrina and Rita affected the Gulf Coast as some of the strongest storms to hit the United States during the last 100 years, causing widespread devastation and flooding. In mid-January the country saw more than...
Munich Re Study Cites Changes in Atlantic Hurricane Risk
Dec 16 2005 // A report prepared by Dr. Eberhard Faust, who heads Munich Re’s Climate Change Research Department, points to some significant changes in the hurricane risk factors in the North Atlantic. Munich Re notes: “The...
Sen. Lott Suing State Farm for Hurricane Katrina Damages to His Pascagoula, Miss. Home
Dec 16 2005 // U.S. Sen. Trent Lott is suing his insurance company over his beachfront Pascagoula home, which was leveled by Hurricane Katrina. The law office of Lott’s brother-in-law, high-profile plaintiff’s Richard...
Unitrin Specialty Paid 92% of Hurricane Claims!
Dec 16 2005 // Unitrin Specialty to date has paid or settled over 92% of our claims from the hurricanes that hit Louisiana. How have we settled claims so quickly? Within hours of the disaster, Unitrin Specialty created a claims...
Alaska’s Augustine Volcano Showing Signs of Erupting, Scientists Say
Dec 16 2005 // A sulfurous steam plume, hundreds of miniature earthquakes and a new swath of ash on Alaska’s snowy Augustine Volcano have scientists alerted to a possible eruption in the next few months. The 4,134-foot volcano...
La. Blue Roof Warranty Following Hurricane Lasts Only 30 Days
Dec 15 2005 // The free blue plastic sheeting installed on 78,700 hurricane-damaged roofs in Louisiana carries only a 30-day warranty, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Operation Blue Roof provides sheeting to...
Hurricane Experts Mayfield, Bailey, Key Speakers at Feb. 8 Windstorm Insurance Conference
Dec 14 2005 // Two leading hurricane experts, Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center, and Bill Bailey, director of the Hurricane Insurance Information Center will summarize the conclusion of the 2005 hurricane season and...
With Only Few Days Left, Industry Presses on Terrorism Insurance
Dec 14 2005 // Congress has only a few days left to decide the future of one of the legacies of the Sept. 11 attacks, federal backup for terrorism insurance sought by the nation’s builders and investors. The 2002 Terrorism Risk...
Hurricane Katrina: The Long Road to Recovery <em>An Insurance Journal Exclusive Video Report from the Gulf States</em>
Dec 14 2005 // With Gulf Coast residents and the insurance industry trying to recover from the country’s worst natural disaster ever, two Insurance Journal reporters set out to see for themselves the effects of Hurricane...
Calif. Unprepared for Tsunami
Dec 13 2005 // Tsunami waves generated by a large offshore earthquake would threaten at least 1 million coastal residents in California and inundate the nation’s largest port complex, according to a new report. The study, released...
Mississippi’s Insured Losses From Hurricane Katrina Pegged At $12B
Dec 13 2005 // Insurers in Mississippi are expected to pay out $12 billion in insured losses stemming from Hurricane Katrina. According to Property Claims Services, the New Jersey-based subsidiary of the Insurance Service Office, which...
Texas ‘Victims’ Plead Guilty for Making False Hurricane Katrina Claims
Dec 13 2005 // Two McLennan County, Texas women, apprehended after they claimed to be victims of Hurricane Katrina and attempted to obtain federal emergency benefits, have pleaded guilty to filing false, fictitious or fraudulent claims...
