Latest Natural Disasters Headlines

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

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...

Natural Disasters, Ukraine War Weigh on Q1 Results of Europe’s Major Reinsurers

May 16 2022 // Three out of four of the major European reinsurers reported their profits were negatively affected as a result of elevated natural catastrophe claims and a first round of claims reserves from the Russia-Ukraine war,...

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...

Study Links Cleaner Air to More Atlantic Hurricanes

May 13 2022 // Cleaner air in United States and Europe is brewing more Atlantic hurricanes, a new U.S. government study found.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration study links changes in regionalized air pollution across...

California Fire Destroys Mansions; New Mexico Wildfire Grows

May 12 2022 // The largest wildfire in the U.S. was spreading toward mountain resort towns in northern New Mexico, prompting officials to issue another set of warnings for more people to evacuate.Meanwhile, a wildfire that erupted...

Massive New Mexico Wildfire Costs Top $65M

May 11 2022 // Many homes near America’s largest wildfire survived the latest barrage of howling winds and erratic flames but New Mexico’s governor said Tuesday the risk of more destruction is high and that the long-term...

Wisconsin Officials Issue Wildfire Warnings

May 10 2022 // Wisconsin officials issued wildfire warnings across the state this past weekend. The state Department of Natural Resources has listed 52 counties in the “very high risk” category for fires, mostly in the...

Forecast Calls for High Risk of Wildfires in Central Oregon

May 10 2022 // As summer approaches forecasters say Central Oregon has the highest fire risk of anywhere in the state.Oregon Public Broadcasting reports the latest fire season outlook, released this week by the National Interagency Fire...

Crews in New Mexico, Arizona Work to Corral Wildfires

May 10 2022 // Firefighters in northern New Mexico worked in rugged terrain ahead of a massive wildfire, feverishly trying to position crews to clear brush and stop the monster blaze from burning more homes in the Rocky Mountain...

UK’s Terrorism Reinsurer Pool Re to Reduce Reinsurance Pricing for Insurers

May 10 2022 // Pool Re, Britain’s leading terrorism reinsurer, announced the most significant reduction in its reinsurance pricing in 20 years. The reduction, which will come into effect in October 2022, will vary according to...

Artificial Intelligence Being Used to Battle Western Wildfires

May 9 2022 // With wildfires becoming bigger and more destructive as the West dries out and heats up, agencies and officials tasked with preventing and battling the blazes could soon have a new tool to add to their arsenal of prescribed...