Latest Catastrophe Headlines

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

FEMA Opens Proposed Hurricane Ida Housing Site Comment Period

May 25 2022 // A three-day comment period opened Tuesday for a proposed group housing site for Hurricane Ida survivors in one southeast Louisiana parish, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said.Up to 75 families could be housed at...

Rain and Snow Slow New Mexico Wildfire, But Hot, Dry Weather Looms

May 25 2022 // The largest wildfire in North America slowed to a near standstill in northern New Mexico Tuesday amid light rain and a bit of snow in the mountains as nearly 3,000 firefighters scrambled to get ahead of a worsening fire...

Forecasters Predict 7th Straight Above-Normal Hurricane Season

May 24 2022 // The Atlantic hurricane season is poised to deliver another round of above-normal storms for the seventh consecutive year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said on Tuesday.NOAA forecasters estimate...

Louisiana Audit Shows Hurricanes Led to Increase in Insurance Complaints

May 24 2022 // Residential property. complaints against Louisiana insurance companies skyrocketed in the aftermath of 2020 and 2021 hurricanes, according to a report released this month by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor.The Louisiana...

People Moves: Arch Hires Chaucer’s Bauckham for Terrorism, Political Violence & War Team; Dale Moves Into Marine Treaty With 2 Hires From MS Amlin

May 24 2022 // This edition of International People Moves details appointments at Arch Insurance International and Dale Underwriting Partners.A summary of these new hires follows here. Arch Insurance Int’l Hires Chaucer’s...

Rare Northern Michigan Tornado Kills 2, Injures More than 40

May 23 2022 // Roofs and walls on a busy business stretch were turned to tangled rubble. Mobile homes were destroyed. Tornadoes are so uncommon in northern Michigan that Gaylord doesn’t have a siren system to warn people about...

New Mexico Wildfire Evacuees Worry About Their Future

May 23 2022 // As more than 2,700 firefighters in northern New Mexico continued to battle the nation’s largest active wildfire on Sunday, many evacuees were growing concerned about their future after weeks away from homeThe biggest...

Hawaii Hurricane Season Forecasted to be Slow With La Nina

May 20 2022 // Hawaii and the Central Pacific basin should expect two to four hurricanes, tropical depressions or tropical storms this year, federal forecasters said.The annual National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration outlook...

Northern Michigan Wildfire 98% Contained

May 19 2022 // A wildfire in a heavily forested area of northern Michigan is now 98% contained and all road closures in the area have been lifted, state officials said Tuesday.The Michigan Department of Natural Resources said a stretch...

NWS Confirms Weak Tornadoes in Kansas, Nebraska

May 19 2022 // The National Weather Service has confirmed a series of weak tornadoes across rural parts of northwestern Kansas and a county in southwestern Nebraska along the Kansas line. The tornadoes hit Tuesday afternoon as a line of...

Oregon Officials Warn of Difficult Wildfire Season

May 19 2022 // Oregon remains poised to see a potentially “challenging” wildfire season this summer, despite a wet and cool spring in much of western Oregon, one of the state’s top fire watchers said Monday.The rain and...

Climate Change Boosted Cost of Japan’s Typhoon Hagibis by $4B: Study

May 19 2022 // The effects of human-caused climate change were responsible for roughly $4 billion of the $10 billion in insured losses resulting from Typhoon Hagibis that struck Japan in October of 2019, according to a new analysis of...

Growth of Massive New Mexico Wildfire Slowed

May 18 2022 // Firefighters have been able to slow the growth of a massive wildfire burning in the mountains of northeastern New Mexico as they prepared Wednesday for another round of red-flag weather that has the potential to push the...

Researchers to Build ‘Cat 6’ Hurricane Simulator with 200 mph Winds

May 18 2022 // The Category 6 hurricane’s howling winds accelerate to a startling 200 mph in Miami, mercilessly pummeling a two-story wood-frame house until the roof tears off and the rattling windows explode.And a towering 20-foot...

Rain Brings Relief to Massive New Mexico Wildfire

May 17 2022 // Lightning sparked a few new small fires in the drought-stricken Southwest Monday but the thunderstorms brought welcome rain to the monster blaze that’s been churning for a month in New Mexico and is now the...

Sunshine State Could See Higher Risk of Property-Destroying Wildfires

May 17 2022 // Perhaps the rain from hurricanes can help extinguish the wildfires.That may be the only silver lining to computer modeling reports suggesting that just as hurricanes and flooding from tropical storms are likely to increase...

How Climate Change Is Fueling More Intense Global Wildfires

May 16 2022 // Already, 2022 is taking its place in a pantheon of years that have seen the nature of fire change — and all parts of the world fall under threat. It’s only expected to get worse, with drought and heat waves looming...

Report Forecasts ‘Above-Normal’ U.S. Wildfire Season, Worse in Drought-Plagued West

May 16 2022 // The U.S. has in store an “above-normal” wildfire season if a prediction from fire weather experts holds true — “intense” may be a better word for the expectations in the Western region.Early...

The Evolution of Catastrophe Modeling Since Hurricane Andrew

May 16 2022 // There’s no question Hurricane Andrew was a wake-up call for the industry. The event paved the way for catastrophe models to revolutionize the way (re)insurers quantify, price, transfer, and manage catastrophe risk....

Report Estimates $530M Reconstruction Cost for Homes in Line of California Wildfire

May 13 2022 // Newly released data from CoreLogic show the Coastal Fire in California has burned at least 20 homes in the Orange County community of Laguna Niguel.The estimated reconstruction cost value is $530 million for the area...