Latest Flood Headlines

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

Experts Warn Ariz. Residents Against Buying ‘Flood Cars’ for Sale

Sep 15 2005 // Experts are warning that thousands of used cars and trucks that were under water in New Orleans are expected to hit Arizona used-car lots and street corners in coming months.These vehicles are usually “totaled”...

Congress Boosts Flood Program Borrowing to Cope with Katrina Claims

Sep 14 2005 // Congress has agreed to increase the borrowing authority of the federal program overseeing flood insurance to cope with the huge expected costs of claims from Hurricane Katrina.The Senate, by voice vote, approved a...

Dale Cautions Miss. Insurance Committee Not to Force Companies to Pay Flood Insurance

Sep 13 2005 // Mississippi Insurance Commissioner George Dale told lawmakers at a joint House and Senate Insurance Committee meeting that it was unfair to attempt to force insurance companies to cover flood damage if homeowners did not...

Best Comments on Katrina’s Impact on the Global Reinsurance Industry

Sep 12 2005 // As the Reinsurance Rendezvous opens in Monte Carlo, A.M. Best Co. has issued a comment on the possible impact of Hurricane Katrina on the global insurance industry.Many of the biggest European companies – Munich Re...

Aspen Estimates Katrina-New Orleans Flood Losses at $150 Million

Sep 9 2005 // Bermuda-based Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited announced its initial assessment of the losses sustained from Hurricane Katrina and the “Great New Orleans Flood” would be approximately $150 million.In...

New Orleans Flood Adds $15-$25B in Hurricane Katrina Insured Losses; Total Estimated Losses Rises to $40-$60B

Sep 9 2005 // Risk Management Solutions now estimates that insured losses from Hurricane Katrina are expected to be $40-$60 billion, of which $15-$25 billion are related to the Great New Orleans Flood.Total economic losses may now...

Zurich Estimates $100 Million in European Flood Losses; No Estimate Yet on Katrina

Sep 8 2005 // The Zurich Financial Services Group has issued a statement that, based on preliminary estimates, “it expects aggregate claims payments related to the recent floods affecting Switzerland, southern Germany and Austria...

Louisiana Proposes Insurance Company Restrictions

Sep 8 2005 // A draft order released by Louisiana’s insurance commissioner Wednesday would significantly restrict the ability of property and health insurance companies to cancel the policies of Hurricane Katrina victims in that...

Pa. Rep. Seeks Emergency Aid Law with Flood Subsidies

Sep 7 2005 // Pennsylvania State Rep. Peter J. Daley, D-Washington/ Fayette, is planning on introducing a bill to provide flood insurance premium subsidies and other small disaster relief to homeowners, small businesses and...

New Orleans Begins to See Flood Waters Decrease; Some Residents Check Damages

Sep 6 2005 // Good news comes to those who wait, and in this case, it is the city of New Orleans.One week after floods from Hurricane Katrina swamped the city and left many homeless and either dead or needing evacuation, officials said...

Insurers Post Special Toll-Free Numbers to Help Katrina Victims

Sep 5 2005 // At press time, forecasters were predicting insured losses from Hurricane Katrina–which made landfall 45 miles west of Biloxi, Miss., and 35 miles east of New Orleans on Aug. 29–would be in the $10 billion to...

News Briefs

Sep 5 2005 // MASSACHUSETTSFed Probe Firing of MassMutual CEO: Federal prosecutors are investigating the conduct that led to the firing of former MassMutual Insurance Comany chief executive Robert J. O’Connell, the company...

Insurers Post Special Toll-Free Numbers to Help Katrina Victims

Sep 5 2005 // At press time, forecasters were predicting insured losses from Hurricane Katrina-which made landfall 45 miles west of Biloxi, Miss., and 35 miles east of New Orleans on Aug. 29-would be in the $10 billion to $30 billion...

Sep 5 2005 // Extreme Weather Hits Europe: Devastating wild fires in Portugal; torrential rains in Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Romania; drought in much of France. There seems to be no end to the list of extreme weather conditions...

FLOOD PROTECTION RULES HIT:

Sep 5 2005 // Despite three major Delaware River floods in the past 13 months, the Department of Environmental Protection is reneging on promises to revise rules that would make it tougher for developers to build in flood-prone areas,...

International Newsbriefs

Sep 5 2005 // Extreme Weather Hits Europe: Devastating wild fires in Portugal; torrential rains in Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Romania; drought in much of France. There seems to be no end to the list of extreme weather conditions...

UPDATE: Official Katrina Death Toll in Louisiana Nears 60; Many Homes Still to be Searched

Sep 3 2005 // In what has and will in the weeks to come be only described as a grisly job, search and rescue teams announced Sunday that 59 deaths in Louisiana have been confirmed as a result of Hurricane Katrina, which hit the Bayou...

Converium Issues Statement on Katrina, Central Europe Flooding

Sep 2 2005 // Swiss reinsurer Converium has issued the following statement concerning expected losses from Hurricane Katrina and from the floods that ravaged Switzerland, Austria and other European countries in August. “Based on...

RMS Totals Economic Loss for Katrina at $100 Billion+

Sep 2 2005 // Risk Management Solutions announced that the economic loss from Hurricane Katrina and subsequent flooding in New Orleans is expected to exceed $100 billion.Losses are resulting from two separate catastrophic events: first,...

Best: Most Insurers Will Meet Hurricane Katrina’s Financial Commitments

Sep 1 2005 // In response to Hurricane Katrina, A.M. Best Co. has begun to aggregate public and private information in order to assess the financial impact it will have on the global property/casualty insurance and reinsurance...