All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Feb 19 2020 // The wind and hail insurance carrier of last resort for counties along the Texas coast has determined that its 1-in-100 probable maximum loss (1:100 PML) for the 2020 catastrophe year is $4.2 billion.At a quarterly meeting...
Feb 18 2020 // A newly proposed bill would clarify under California law the concept of “hardened homes” that are safer or more resistant to wildfires and then require admitted carriers to cover those homes.California’s...
Feb 14 2020 // An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.0 shook California’s central coast on Wednesday but no damage or injuries were immediately reported, the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed. The quake that hit at 7:33...
Feb 13 2020 // Doctors and other experts say at least 50 more people, many of them elderly or ill, likely died as a result of the 2018 wildfire that devastated the town of Paradise, California, but were not counted in the official death...
Feb 13 2020 // The National Weather Service has confirmed that five tornadoes ripped through parts of Maryland on Friday.Multiple news outlets report that the tornadoes were confirmed in Carroll, Cecil, Montgomery and Frederick counties....
Feb 11 2020 // The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) board of directors will hold its quarterly meeting on Feb. 18, 2020, at 9:00 a.m. in Austin.The agenda for the meeting is posted on TWIA’s website. All meetings of the...
Feb 11 2020 // California utilities plan to continue shutting off power to customers during dry and windy conditions to prevent sparking deadly wildfires, but they aim to make outages more targeted to avoid widespread blackouts,...
Feb 11 2020 // Fires and floods are sending some of the nation’s largest utilities to the bond market to cover huge, unexpected bills. California’s PG&E Corp., which was forced into bankruptcy a year ago after its...
Feb 11 2020 // A strong winter storm that has battered Europe with hurricane-force winds and heavy rains and killed at least five people moved eastward Monday, causing severe travel disruptions across the continent.After striking Britain...
Feb 10 2020 // A minor earthquake struck the Southern California high desert on Saturday and was was felt across the region, the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed. The USGS reports the 3.9-magnitude earthquake hit an area about 13 miles...
Feb 10 2020 // Tsunami warning sirens wailing early Friday morning in the Southern California city of Huntington Beach were a false alarm, authorities confirmed. “There is no current threat to our community and we are working to...
Feb 7 2020 // Recent wildfires in California Wine Country, particularly those that devastated parts of Napa and Sonoma counties in October 2017, have focused attention on whether insurance covers smoke taint damage to grapes and...
Feb 6 2020 // Benton County plans to appeal the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s decision to not help pay for the costs to clean up damages from two tornadoes that struck in October, officials said.The county was notified of...
Feb 6 2020 // For most of the 20th century, the insurance industry considered wildfires to be little more than a benign nuisance. They occurred frequently but rarely resulted in more than a handful of claims, and underwriters priced for...
Feb 4 2020 // The salvage team in charge of removing a cargo ship that overturned on the Georgia coast nearly five months ago wants to surround it with a giant mesh screen to contain any loose debris as the vessel gets cut into pieces.A...
Feb 4 2020 // The Kansas Corporation Commission has approved opening general investigation dockets to allow the public access to information gathered during investigations into seismic activity in Reno and Rooks counties.The dockets...
Feb 4 2020 // Chubb has launched an insurance coverage aimed at bridging gaps in traditional terrorism business interruption policies.Chubb’s Non Damage Terrorism Solutions is a single policy offering non damage business...
Jan 31 2020 // A Florida woman has pleaded guilty to lying about damage caused by Hurricane Irma.Deannajo White, 39, pleaded guilty in Jacksonville federal court Friday to one count of disaster assistance fraud, according to court...
Jan 28 2020 // A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck in the sea in the western Caribbean on Tuesday, sending workers into the streets and triggering evacuations as buildings shook across the Cayman Islands, in Jamaica, and in...
Jan 28 2020 // A tornado caused some minor damage to homes in Manzanita, Ore., on Tuesday morning, the National Weather Service confirmed. The Oregonian/OregonLive reported that Tillamook County Emergency Manager Gordon McCraw said the...