Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
1K Los Angeles Residents Ordered to Evacuate in Wildfire
May 17 2021 // About 1,000 Los Angeles residents were evacuation orders on Monday as firefighters protected canyon homes from a smoky wildfire that churned through vegetation that hasn’t burned in half a century. The cause of the...
Oregon Landowner Suit Seeks $103M from Public Utilities for Wildfire
May 17 2021 // A lawsuit filed on behalf of 70 landowners in Oregon’s McKenzie River Valley seeks $103 million from Lane Electric Cooperative and Eugene Water and Electric Board for damages linked to one of the Labor Day fires that...
Private Firefighting Firms Add to Tension While Saving Vineyards, Mansions From Wildfires
May 17 2021 // Last October, firefighter Ryan Bellanca and his crew battled to keep the raging Glass Fire in California from devastating an upmarket Napa Valley vineyard. But Bellanca wasn’t working for any fire department. He owns...
Tornado in New Orleans Rips Off Roofs, Knocks Out Power
May 13 2021 // A tornado ripped off roofs, knocked down utility poles and cut off power to thousands in New Orleans early on May 12, but no serious injuries were reported in what one city official called an unexpected “dry...
California Commissioner Calls on Insurers to Do More to Boost Wildfire Prep
May 13 2021 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara called for property insurers in the state to step up and do more to help residents and businesses deal with wildfires. Lara on Thursday gave an update on the actions and...
2020’s Hurricane Zeta Upgraded from Cat 2 to Cat 3
May 13 2021 // Hurricane Zeta, which swept through southeast Louisiana at the tail end of the 2020 hurricane season, has been upgraded to a major, Category 3 storm at Louisiana landfall, according to a federal report released on May 11...
U.S. Hailstorms that Cost Insurers Billions – and Other April Natural Disasters: Aon
May 12 2021 // Insurers face multi-billion-dollar losses from U.S. hailstorms during April, according to Aon’s Global Catastrophe Recap report, which each month analyzes the impact of natural disaster events worldwide. The report...
The Really, Really Big One: The Likelihood of a 1-in-100 Year Cyber Catastrophe
May 12 2021 // Powered by InsuranceJournal.tv More than a year into what some have called a 1-in-100 year pandemic with COVID-19, many may be wondering what other unprecedented events could be on the horizon. For the cyber community,...
California Wildfire Victims See Little Payout from PG&E Settlement
May 11 2021 // A trust approved by a federal judge to help compensate victims of deadly California wildfires sparked by Pacific Gas & Electric equipment paid survivors just $7 million while racking up $51 million in overhead in its...
Tornado That Struck Chesapeake Bay’s Western Shore Damaged Houses
May 10 2021 // A tornado that struck Virginia’s Northumberland County near the Chesapeake Bay destroyed one home and severely damaged a few others. But no one was injured, according to weather service officials. National Weather...
Ahead of Biden Visit, Louisiana Seeks More Hurricane Disaster Aid
May 6 2021 // U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy has asked President Joe Biden, ahead of his May 6 visit to Louisiana, to back disaster aid to help the state with recovery from the 2020 hurricanes. Louisiana’s Republican senior senator and...
RMS Global Catastrophe Model Leader Launches First Climate Change Models, Enabling New Risk Insights
May 6 2021 // New Climate Change Models Show Impact of Climate Change on Losses; Losses from Hurricanes Could Increase by 24 percent by 2050 Newark, Calif., May 5, 2021 – RMS, the world’s leading catastrophe risk modeling and...
3 Killed by Tornadoes from Southeast Storms; 12 Twisters Confirmed in Mississippi
May 5 2021 // Much of the South faced more severe weather Tuesday that has killed at least three people, spawned tornadoes Sunday night and Monday and damaged homes and uprooted trees from Mississippi to West Virginia. Parts of Texas,...
North, Central Texas Pummeled by Tornadoes, Hail
May 4 2021 // The National Weather Service in Fort Worth reported that its preliminary storm results survey from the severe weather that swept north and central Texas on May 3 showed two EF-2 tornadoes and three EF-0 tornadoes. The...
Storms Spawn Tornadoes Across Southeast, Damage Reported in Mississippi
May 4 2021 // Multiple tornadoes were reported across Mississippi on Sunday, destroying homes and uprooting trees before the storm system moved into Atlanta, prompting residents Monday to seek shelter in Georgia’s largest city....
Louisiana State Roadways Finally Cleared of 2020 Hurricane Debris
May 4 2021 // Eight months after Hurricane Laura devastated southwest Louisiana, the state transportation department has finished removing storm debris from state roadways. The Department of Transportation and Development said it...
ShakeAlert Earthquake Warning System Goes Live in Washington
May 4 2021 // Washington residents will have new tool to help keep them safe when an earthquake strikes on Tuesday when the ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning System goes live. Once launched, ShakeAlert will be able to send residents...
Storm That Damaged 32 Homes in Tennessee Was Tornado
May 4 2021 // The National Weather Services said a violent storm that damaged more than 30 homes in Tennessee last week was an EF-1 tornado, The Paris Post-Intelligencer reported. No deaths and only one minor injury were reported from...
Tornado Confirmed in Metro Atlanta As Severe Storms Strike Region
May 3 2021 // The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado in the Atlanta metro area Monday as a disturbance brought scattered yet severe storms. On Twitter, NWS Atlanta followed up a tornado warning from early Monday morning with a...
Tornado Rips Through Mississippi, Damages Buildings, Power Lines
May 3 2021 // A tornado tore through the southern U.S. city of Tupelo on Sunday, blowing the roofs off homes and tearing down trees and power lines, but there were no immediate reports of injuries. “Emergency crews are currently...
