Latest Hurricane Headlines

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

Study Finds Economic Costs of Federal Cat Legislation Significant

Sep 22 2008 // Taxpayers In At Least 20 States Could Face Multi-Billion Dollar Tax Burden Natural catastrophe legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and pending in the U.S. Senate would create a multi-billion dollar...

Time for Barry and Shenise

Sep 22 2008 // Astute observers of recent political history may recall the story of Harry and Louise — the fictional couple created by a health insurance industry lobbying group in 1994. In political television ads at the time, the...

How Agents Prepared and Fared as Gustav Hit Gulf States

Sep 22 2008 // On the morning of Sept. 1, Gustav’s eye made landfall on the Louisiana coast just shy of Category 3 status. Experts estimate Gustav caused about $8 billion to $10 billion in insured damage. On Aug. 29 as Hurricane...

Early Estimates of Ike Damage: $6B to $18B

Sep 22 2008 // The Real Numbers Won’t be Known for Weeks Estimates of insured damage from Hurricane Ike vary widely — from $8 billion to $16 billion, according to several catastrophe risk modeling firms, but Texas Insurance...

Disaster Fatigue

Sep 22 2008 // After President George W. Bush surveyed the damage along the Texas Gulf Coast just days after Hurricane Ike rammed its way onto Galveston Island, he urged Americans not to succumb to “disaster fatigue” and to...

Hurricane Ike: We’re All Connected

Sep 22 2008 // When it was all over, six people were dead, expressways remained flooded in every direction, 1,000 people were evacuated, schools closed and Illinois Gov. Rod Blagoevich had declared seven counties in Illinois as emergency...

Texas, Louisiana Enact Emergency Rules for Hurricane Relief

Sep 22 2008 // Insurance regulators in both Texas and Louisiana have enacted emergency rules aimed at providing relief for insurance consumers in the wake of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. The Louisiana Department of Insurance issued...

Rhode Island Marks 70th Anniversary of Its Most Destructive Storm

Sep 21 2008 // Downtown Providence was flooded and neighborhoods were destroyed. A group of school children who drowned after their bus was swept off the road were among the hundreds killed. It’s been 70 years since a catastrophic...

House Bill Would Extend Flood Insurance Program 7 Months

Sep 19 2008 // The troubled U.S. flood insurance program would be temporarily extended for seven months under legislation introduced in Congress Thursday, buying time for lawmakers to work out deep disagreements over reforming the...

Hurricane Gustav Disaster Declaration Extended for Louisiana

Sep 19 2008 // Twenty-five Louisiana parishes are now able to get federal aid to rebuild their buildings and facilities damaged by Hurricane Gustav. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has extended its Gustav disaster declaration in...

Storm Surge Not Covered in Texas Windstorm Association Policies

Sep 19 2008 // A Texas consumer group took issue with the state-chartered windstorm insurance association over its refusal to pay coastal residents for storm surge damage in Hurricane Ike. The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association says...

Hurricane Ike Tests Texas Windstorm Association’s Ability to Pay Claims

Sep 18 2008 // The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) on Sept. 17 announced that anticipated claims from Hurricane Ike will force it to use the entire $370 million remainder of its Catastrophe Reserve Trust Fund, according to...

Hurricane Ike to Cost Insurers $7B to $12B, RMS Says in Revised Tally

Sep 18 2008 // Risk Management Solutions (RMS), the catastrophe risk modeling firm, has refined its estimate for U.S. onshore and offshore insured losses from Hurricane Ike to $7 to $12 billion from its original estimate of $6 to $16...

Best Comments on Potential Impact of Hurricane Ike on P/C Industry

Sep 17 2008 // A.M. Best’s preliminary assessment of the potential financial impact from Hurricane Ike concludes that, even though its passage was a “sizeable catastrophic event, the overall financial impact to both the...

S&P’s Analysis of Hurricane Season Finds Mounting Losses

Sep 16 2008 // Following Ike’s march through Texas, S&P noted that the preliminary estimates of insured losses “vary from $6 billion to $18 billion. (These figures include onshore and offshore exposure.)” Before...

Most of Louisiana’s Coast Flooded by Ike

Sep 16 2008 // Northerly winds began blowing into southern Louisiana on Monday, a change that officials hoped would help clear lingering floodwaters pushed in by Hurricane Ike. Tim Destri, a National Weather Service meteorologist said...

Texas Regulators Suspend Premium Payments for Ike Victims

Sep 16 2008 // In the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, the Texas Department of Insurance has directed insurance carriers to “to provide prompt and immediate relief” to residents and policyholders impacted by the storm,...

Bermuda Association Explains Reinsurance Risk Spreading Role

Sep 15 2008 // “The global reinsurance market plays an integral role in spreading US hurricane risk around the world,” said a bulletin from the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR). “Without it, the...

Houston’s Corporate Giants Idled by Hurricane Ike

Sep 15 2008 // It’s not quite business as usual in Houston Monday after Hurricane Ike knocked out power to millions, shattered skyscraper windows and wiped out water pressure in the nation’s energy hub. In the midst of an oil...

Nearly 2,000 Brought to Safety in Texas

Sep 15 2008 // Rescuers searching the waterlogged streets and splintered houses left behind by Hurricane Ike in Galveston they had saved nearly 2,000 people – many of whom then boarded buses to shelters without knowing where they...