Latest Hurricane Headlines
All the headlines from our Hurricane Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Texas Builds ‘Hurricane Domes’ For Double-Duty
Dec 31 2012 // Most of the time, the windowless building with the dome-shaped roof will be a typical high school gymnasium filled with cheering fans watching basketball and volleyball games. But come hurricane season, the structure that...
P/C Industry’s 9 Month Results Show Insurers Can Handle Sandy Losses: ISO, PCI
Dec 28 2012 // Before Hurricane Sandy hit, private U.S. property/casualty insurers’ net income after taxes grew to $27 billion in nine-months 2012 from $8.4 billion in nine-months 2011. Insurers’ overall profitability as...
Swiss Re Estimates 2012 Economic Losses at $140 Billion; $65 Billion Insured
Dec 19 2012 // According to Swiss Re’s sigma preliminary estimates, economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters will likely reach at least $140 billion in 2012, while total insured losses from natural...
Continued Drought, More Tornados Forecasted
Dec 17 2012 // Extreme weather events in 2013 may look much the same as this year — but different. The weather is difficult to predict, but if the weak El Niño forecast for next year holds, it brings with it the promise of continued...
XL’s Preliminary Loss Estimate for Hurricane Sandy around $350 Million
Dec 13 2012 // XL Group plc has announced that its preliminary net loss estimate related to Storm Sandy is around $350 million, pretax and net of reinsurance and reinstatement premiums. XL added that “approximately 60 percent of...
Meadowbrook Insurance Group: $5.1M Known Claims from Hurricane Sandy
Dec 12 2012 // Meadowbrook Insurance Group Inc., headquartered in Southfield, Mich., reported that so far it has approximately $5.1 million of known claims resulting from Hurricane Sandy. The claims reported from Hurricane Sandy are...
Post-Sandy, Weather Service Considers Change to Hurricane Warnings
Dec 11 2012 // The National Weather Service is considering changing how it issues hurricane watches and warnings. Spokesman Chris Vaccaro said in an email last week that the weather service is considering a proposal to issue watches and...
S&P Says Reinsurers Faced Unexpected Risks from Hurricane Sandy
Dec 11 2012 // A report from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services notes that “despite uncertainties regarding final loss totals from Hurricane Sandy expects only a limited ratings impact on insurers and reinsurers exposed...
White House $60 Billion Sandy Relief Request Includes Flood Insurance Funding
Dec 10 2012 // The White House has officially asked Congress to authorize $60.4 billion in federal spending for response, recovery and mitigation related to Hurricane Sandy damage in all affected states. The request, in a letter to the...
Deadly 2012 Hurricane Season Ends
Dec 3 2012 // The 2012 Atlantic hurricane season that spawned the destruction of Sandy and Isaac has come to an end as one for the record books. There were 19 named storms in what meteorologists consider an above-average year that tied...
Hurricane Center Seeks to Improve Storm Surge Warnings
Nov 30 2012 // Friday marks the end of an Atlantic-Caribbean hurricane season where the greatest devastation was caused by water rather than wind, U.S. National Hurricane Center Director Rick Knabb said. Accordingly, the center is...
S&P Report: Reinsurers Discuss Industry Lessons Learned From Hurricane Sandy
Nov 30 2012 // A recent report, “Reinsurance Industry Leaders Discuss Lessons Learned From Hurricane Sandy,” published Nov. 29, 2012, on RatingsDirect, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, notes that...
Wind Deductibles and Sandy: What It Means for Total Insured Losses
Nov 28 2012 // On October 29, 2012, when Hurricane Sandy made landfall along the northeast coast—a year to the day since the last northeastern superstorm and fourteen months since Hurricane Irene — the wind speeds recorded by the...
New York, New Jersey Put $71 Billion Price Tag on Sandy
Nov 26 2012 // New York state and New Jersey need at least $71.3 billion to recover from the devastation wrought by Superstorm Sandy and prevent similar damage from future storms, according to their latest estimates. The total, which...
AIR Worldwide Raises Sandy Insured Loss Estimates to $16-$22 Billion
Nov 26 2012 // Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide today revised up its industrywide Sandy insured loss estimates to the $16 billion-$22 billion range. AIR Worldwide had previously estimated on Oct. 30 — the day after Sandy...
Swiss Re Estimates Claims from Hurricane Sandy at around $900 Million Net
Nov 26 2012 // Swiss Re announced that its estimates of claims from Hurricane Sandy are around $900 million, net of retrocession and before tax. The bulletin warned, however, that “this estimate is subject to a higher than usual...
After Sandy, Uncertainty About Real Estate Market, Mortgages, Insurance
Nov 21 2012 // “Reduced for Quick Sale!” reads Mike Montalbano’s Craigslist ad for the three-bedroom home he needs to sell before he can relocate for a new job. The drywall is new, as are the appliances. The only...
Insurers Go Beyond Paying Claims for Sandy Victims
Nov 21 2012 // According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Superstorm Sandy affected 16 states causing unprecedented damage to the East Coast. As a result of the storm, businesses including insurers have pledged more than $123 million to...
Hailstorms Are the Costliest Natural Peril in Texas
Nov 14 2012 // Hurricanes may garner more attention but in Texas, hailstorms, not hurricanes, are the most damaging weather events that Texans face annually, according to the state’s insurance regulators. And, unlike hurricanes,...
Q&A With Attorneys on Emerging Business Insurance Topics
Nov 13 2012 // As companies large and small grapple with losses in Sandy’s aftermath, a number of critical — and costly — business questions have emerged. Darlene Alt and Robert DiUbaldo, two experienced insurance...
