All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Aug 5 2024 // Texas lawmakers nearly three years ago promised changes to prevent the devastation from a deadly winter storm from happening again. But the damage caused by Hurricane Beryl last month shows that much remains the same,...
Aug 5 2024 // Firefighters have increased containment on the 627-square-mile Park Fire near Chico, California, which is now 34% contained.The fire, now the fourth largest wildfire in history, is 401,740 acres. It was 24% contained on...
Aug 5 2024 // Hurricane Debby slammed into Florida southeast of Tallahassee as a Category 1 storm after intensifying over warm waters, the latest evidence that this will be a robust season for tropical cyclones.The storm’s top...
Aug 5 2024 // New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has signed legislation that will provide $100 million in emergency aid to victims of recent wildfires and flooding in Lincoln County.The spending bill includes $70 million for local...
Aug 5 2024 // Insurers’ losses from Hurricane Beryl will be “low and readily absorbed” and the storm is not expected to change pricing conditions in the property/casualty and reinsurance sectors, Moody’s...
Aug 2 2024 // Firefighters have increased containment on the Park Fire near Chico, California, which at 621-square-miles as of Friday is now the fourth largest wildfire in history.The fire, which covers parts of four counties—Butte,...
Aug 2 2024 // Of all the insidious threats faced by wildland firefighters — extreme heat, desiccated forests, unpredictable fire behavior and a nearly year-round fire season — what might be the most fearsome?Humans. People do...
Aug 1 2024 // When a spate of wildfires tore across the Texas Panhandle in February and scorched 20,000 acres of Craig Cowden’s ranch near Skellytown, he decided he had had enough. Cowden took on a second unofficial job: looking...
Aug 1 2024 // A report from Moody’s Ratings service contends that one good hurricane this year could wipe out the Florida Cat Fund’s reserves, potentially forcing it to place a small surcharge on Florida insurance premiums...
Aug 1 2024 // SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — North Macedonia said it was seeking further assistance from the European Union Tuesday to combat wildfires that continue to burn out of control in heatwave temperatures and have crossed the...
Jul 31 2024 // The Park Fire near Chico, California, at 609 square miles is now the fifth largest wildfire in history, destroying 277 structures and damaging 29, according to CalFire.The fire covers four counties—Butte, Plumas, Shasta,...
Jul 31 2024 // Damaging earthquakes that rocked West Texas in recent days were likely caused by oil and gas activity in an area that has weathered tremors for decades, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.A sequence that began in 2021...
Jul 31 2024 // Wildfire smoke may be worse for brain health than other types of air pollution, according to new research linking it to an increased risk of dementia.The findings, reported Monday at the Alzheimer’s Association...
Jul 30 2024 // Containment has increased on a fire that exploded in size and in a few days became California’s sixth largest wildfire, destroying hundreds of structures.The Park Fire near Chico, California, has burned 383,619...
Jul 30 2024 // Record rainfall and widespread flooding killed four people in China’s southern province of Hunan, with roads in rural areas damaged and access to electricity and the internet disrupted, state media said on...
Jul 30 2024 // A tornado that hit this small, upstate city tore off rooftops, leveled brick buildings and toppled the steeples of two historic churches. No one was killed, but the twister left a debris-strewn scar through downtown and...
Jul 30 2024 // This post is part of a series sponsored by AgentSync.As catastrophic natural disasters continue to wreak havoc on the property and casualty (P&C) insurance sector, loss prevention remains a high priority for insurers...
Jul 29 2024 // At least 100 structures have been destroyed and roughly 4,200 more are being threatened by the Park Fire, near Chico, California, which has burned 368,256 acres and now touches four counties.Containment on the Park Fire,...
Jul 29 2024 // JASPER, Alberta (AP) — A wildfire that has destroyed hundreds of structures in the town of Jasper is the largest blaze recorded in Jasper National Park in a century and could still be burning months from now, a Parks...
Jul 29 2024 // The Texas oil regulator said it’s investigating after several earthquakes hit the Permian Basin last week.Extremely salty water that naturally comes out of oil wells is discarded by injecting the slurry back into the...