Latest Catastrophe Headlines

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

Hawaii Volcano Kilauea Erupts After Nearly Two Months of Quiet

Sep 12 2023 // Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, began erupting Sunday after a two-month pause, displaying glowing lava that is a safe distance from people and structures in a national park on the Big Island. The...

The Value of Wildfire Simulations in Enterprise Risk Management

Sep 12 2023 // This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic. Going beyond historical data brings clarity to the future of wildfire risk Welcome to the second installment of our four-part series on wildfire hazard and enterprise...

Insurance Industry Should Expect $100 Billion in Catastrophe Losses Every Year: Verisk

Sep 11 2023 // Total global insured losses from natural catastrophes of more than $100 billion a year may be less newsworthy than in the past. In fact, the industry should expect loss totals of at least $100 billion every year, according...

Morocco Survivors Seek Aid as Earthquake Death Toll Passes 2,100

Sep 11 2023 // Survivors of Morocco’s deadliest earthquake in more than six decades struggled to find food, water and shelter on Sunday as the search for the missing continued in remote villages and the death toll of more than...

Brave New Whirl: Hurricane Lee Rewriting Rule Book on Storm Behavior

Sep 11 2023 // ATLANTA (AP) — Hurricane Lee is rewriting old rules of meteorology, leaving experts astonished at how rapidly it grew into a goliath Category 5 hurricane. Lee — which just as quickly dropped to a...

Lee’s Rapid Growth Rewriting Hurricane Rule Book

Sep 11 2023 // Hurricane Lee is rewriting old rules of meteorology, leaving experts astonished at how rapidly it grew into a goliath Category 5 hurricane. Lee – which just as quickly dropped to a still-dangerous Category 3 and held...

Hurricane Lee Strengthens to Category 5 Storm

Sep 8 2023 // Hurricane Lee has become the strongest Atlantic storm since 2019 with winds of 165 miles (266 kilometers) per hour, and the US National Hurricane Center said the Category 5 system isn’t done growing yet. While the...

Markets/Coverages: Carpenter Launches Update of Catastrophe Analytics Platform

Sep 8 2023 // Guy Carpenter, the reinsurance business of Marsh McLennan, announced the launch of the next generation of its catastrophe analytics platform, GC AdvantagePoint. The updated platform features new technology that will...

Maui Wildfires Portend Unprecedented Shift in What It Means to Mitigate Risk

Sep 8 2023 // The Maui wildfires portend a grand and incalculable reality for every single one of us living on this spinning blue globe we call Earth. Understanding the risks associated with where we live, work and play may be reaching...

The Care and Feeding of Property-Catastrophe Models

Sep 7 2023 // Executive summary: The key to getting useful model results is working with models that fit specific underwriting needs and making sure the models are regularly updated while employing qualitative analysis (in addition to...

‘Eyewall Replacement’ Led to Weakening of Hurricane – This Time, NHC Says

Sep 6 2023 // In the final hours before Hurricane Idalia struck Florida the storm had grown into a Category 4 beast lurking off the state’s west coast, and the forecast called for it to continue intensifying up until landfall. An...

Report: Climate Change Boosts Risk of Extreme Wildfires 25%

Sep 5 2023 // A group of scientists used machine learning to quantify empirical relationships between temperature and the risk of extreme daily wildfire growth in California to show the influence of temperature on the risk – and they...

Wildfires Cost Europe €4.1 Billion as Temperatures Hit Records

Sep 5 2023 // Wildfires have cost Europe an estimated €4.1 billion ($4.43 billion) in damages so far this year, as extreme heat seared the Mediterranean from Greece to Spain this summer. Nearly 400,000 hectares (988,420 acres) of land...

About $2.2B Insured Losses From Hurricane Idalia, Says KCC

Sep 1 2023 // Though it made landfall as a Category 3 storm, Hurricane Idalia impacted an are of low population and is expected to cause private insured losses of about $2.2 billion, according to catastrophe modeler Karen Clark &...

Hong Kong Braces for Biggest Typhoon Since 2018

Sep 1 2023 // Hong Kong was starting to feel the impact of Super Typhoon Saola as winds reached hurricane force and rain lashed the city. The government said it will raise the No. 9 storm signal — the second highest — at 6:20 p.m....

Wildfire Risk Score: A Complete Tool for Insurance Risk Management

Sep 1 2023 // This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic. Welcome to the first installment of our four-part series on wildfire hazard and risk management, where we will explore CoreLogic’s wildfire risk models and their...

Unprecedented Wildfire Season Ravages Louisiana as Drought and Heat Persist

Aug 31 2023 // BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – One of the largest wildfires in Louisiana history continues to burn through land and threaten rural communities, which are used to flooding and hurricanes this time of year rather than drought and...

Cleanup Begins After Hurricane Idalia Hits Gulf Coast

Aug 31 2023 // Cleanup and recovery from Hurricane Idalia began on Thursday along Florida’s Gulf Coast, where property damage, loss of life and power disruptions paled in comparison to the last major hurricane that struck the state...

Warren Buffett’s Bet on Mild Florida Storm Season Faces Test With Hurricane Idalia

Aug 30 2023 // Berkshire Hathaway Inc. bet big earlier this year that Florida’s reinsurance market would deliver huge premiums with minimal losses. Hurricane Idalia is about to offer a test of that calculus, with months of...

Super Typhoon Saola Lashes Taiwan Before Heading to Hong Kong

Aug 30 2023 // Super Typhoon Saola pummeled the south of Taiwan early Wednesday with strong winds and heavy rain, shutting offices and canceling some flights before heading to Hong Kong. Authorities in Taiwan, where no typhoon has made...