Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
U.S. Approves Fire Retardant That Could Be ‘Game-Changer’ in Fighting Wildfires
Oct 7 2021 // U.S. officials on this week approved a long-lasting fire retardant that could significantly aid in fighting increasingly destructive wildfires by stopping them before they ever start. The U.S. Forest Service approved...
Swiss Re Estimates Hurricane Ida Could Cost Insurers $30 Billion
Oct 6 2021 // On an industry level, Swiss Re now estimates that total insured market losses from Hurricane Ida to be in the range of $28–30 billion, excluding federal flood insurance losses. Hurricane Ida, the second-most intense...
Swiss Re Estimates Hurricane Ida Could Cost Insurers $30 Billion
Oct 5 2021 // On an industry level, Swiss Re now estimates that total insured market losses from Hurricane Ida to be in the range of $28–30 billion, excluding federal flood insurance losses. Hurricane Ida, the second-most intense...
Neptune Flood Acquires Parametric Earthquake Insurance Broker Jumpstart
Oct 4 2021 // Digital flood insurance provider Neptune Flood has acquired Jumpstart Insurance Solutions, a parametric insurtech broker that offers parametric earthquake policies. Terms were not disclosed. Jumpstart, a licensed surplus...
Goats Being Brought in to Help Slow Colorado Wildfires
Oct 4 2021 // A group of horse trailers pulls up to a trailhead outside of Carbondale, Colo. The doors open and more than 800 goats jump out onto the gravel parking lot. The goats head straight for the closest grassy hill and...
California Oil Spill Called ‘Environmental Catastrophe’
Oct 4 2021 // HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.— A large oil spill off the southern California coast left fish dead, birds mired in petroleum and wetlands contaminated, in what local officials called an environmental catastrophe. The U.S....
Catastrophe Data Firm PERILS Launches Real-Time Hailstorm Loss Platform for Australia
Oct 1 2021 // PERILS, the independent Zurich-based organization that provides industry-wide catastrophe insurance data, has announced the launch of a new platform providing real-time industry loss estimates for hailstorm events in...
Report Shows Wyoming, Idaho Have ‘Disproportionate Risk’ from Wildfire
Sep 29 2021 // Lately, when people say “wildfire,” California is probably the first state that comes to mind. But a new report out should concern people living in a few other Western states that aren’t often mentioned...
PG&E Charged in California Wildfire That Killed 4
Sep 29 2021 // Pacific Gas & Electric was charged Friday with involuntary manslaughter and other crimes after its equipment sparked a Northern California wildfire that killed four people and destroyed hundreds of homes last year,...
Louisiana Extends Hurricane Ida Insurance-Related Emergency Rule
Sep 28 2021 // Louisiana extended the emergency rule that allows suspension of insurance related statutes in the 25 parishes affected by Hurricane Ida, the insurance department said. The Louisiana Department of Insurance reported that...
Shell Plans Mid-October Post-Hurricane Restart for Louisiana Refinery
Sep 28 2021 // Royal Dutch Shell Plc tentatively plans the first restart of a production unit at its 230,611 barrel-per-day (bpd) Norco, Louisiana, refinery for mid-October, sources familiar with plant operations said on Monday. A Shell...
Mexican Insurtech Startup Offers Quick Claims Payments for Earthquake Damage
Sep 27 2021 // Mexican startup Super, which offers coverage for earthquake property damages, plans to expand into hurricane insurance and possibly raise a fresh funding round next year, according to chief executive officer and founder...
Suspected Arson Wildfire Forces Evacuations in Northern California
Sep 24 2021 // Thousands of people were under evacuation orders Friday and many others were on notice to be ready to flee as a destructive wildfire raged in a drought-stricken forest in California’s far north. A woman suspected of...
Insured Price Tag for Canada’s Summer Storms and Wildfires Nears C$200M
Sep 24 2021 // Two storms that raged across Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada in July and August caused C$120 million (US$94.5 million) in insured damage, while the August wildfire, in White Rock Lake, British Columbia, is now estimated...
Karen Clark & Co. Releases Version 1.0 of U.S. Wildfire Model
Sep 22 2021 // Karen Clark & Co. (KCC), the Boston-based catastrophe modeling company, announced it has released Version 1.0 of its high-resolution U.S. Wildfire Model. This advanced and fully probabilistic model provides exceedance...
Damage from Hurricane Ida to Cut Shell Oil Production Until Early Next Year
Sep 21 2021 // Royal Dutch Shell, the largest U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil producer, said damage to offshore transfer facilities from Hurricane Ida will cut production into early next year, slashing deliveries of a type of crude oil prized by...
Brit Launches Machine Learning Algorithm to Accelerate Catastrophe Claims Response
Sep 21 2021 // Brit Ltd., the London-based specialty insurer and reinsurer, announced the creation and successful proof-of-concept launch of a proprietary machine-learning algorithm, designed to accelerate the identification of...
Analysis: Ida’s Destruction May Help Louisiana’s Hurricane Laura Victims
Sep 20 2021 // Hurricane Ida’s thrashing left homes in mangled heaps across southeastern Louisiana, but in an uncomfortable twist, the storm might have been a boon to southwestern parishes still struggling to recover from last...
Aluminum Wrap Being Used to Protect Homes from California Wildfires
Sep 20 2021 // Martin Diky said he panicked as a huge wildfire started racing down a slope toward his wooden house near Lake Tahoe. The contractor had enough time to do some quick research and decided to wrap his mountain home with an...
AIR: Hurricane Ida Losses Could Reach $30B
Sep 20 2021 // Modeling firm AIR Worldwide updated its insured loss estimates for Hurricane Ida and now projects that Ida’s insured industry losses will range from $20 billion to $30 billion. The estimate includes inland flood...
