Latest Hurricane Headlines

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

CDC Official: Reaction to Formaldehyde in Emergency Trailers Too Slow

Mar 6 2008 // The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should have reacted sooner to concerns about hazardous fumes in government-issued trailers housing thousands of Gulf Coast hurricane victims, a CDC official told a...

Gulf Coast Recovery Chief Steps Down

Mar 3 2008 // The federal official in charge of rebuilding the Gulf Coast after the 2005 hurricanes said he has submitted his resignation because he wants to return to Texas to get back into banking. Donald Powell, former chairman of...

Coastal Growth, Not Global Warming, Blamed for Rising Storm Losses

Feb 25 2008 // A hurricane that hit Miami in 1926 would cause up to $157 billion in damage if it were to strike today, according to a recent study. U.S. storm costs are rising because of higher populations and wealth on the coasts, not a...

Fla. Insurers See Hurricane Insurance Market on the Mend

Feb 25 2008 // The insurance market in Florida is adjusting to changing conditions – some man-made, others resulting from forces of nature – all of which make property insurance for Florida homeowners more available and more...

Fla. Lawmakers Confront Property Insurance, again, in 2008 Session

Feb 22 2008 // Property insurance wasn’t supposed to be the big issue in the 2008 Florida Legislature. To the chagrin of many lawmakers, it just won’t go away. Legislators thought they’d largely taken care of the issue...

Report Reveals Why La.’s Citizens Insurance Fumbled Katrina Claims

Feb 21 2008 // A report for the Louisiana Insurance Department shows that the state-sponsored “insurer of last resort” had trouble handling claims for hurricanes Katrina and Rita because it was switching to new outside...

Bush’s Budget Would Include Millions for Hurricane Research

Feb 14 2008 // President Bush’s proposed budget would include millions more in funding to improve hurricane forecasts and further research the storms, a federal official said at a recent regional discussion of the budget. The...

FEMA Looks at Expanded Use of Trains in Hurricane Evacuations

Feb 13 2008 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency may expand the use of passenger trains to evacuate the sick and elderly in advance of hurricanes across the Gulf Coast, a FEMA official said. Glenn Cannon, a FEMA assistant...

More Atlantic Hurricane Activity Doesn’t Mean More Landfall Risk

Feb 10 2008 // New research on the link between the formation of hurricanes in the Atlantic basin and U.S. landfall activity suggests that using Atlantic basin hurricane activity as a proxy for landfall activity can lead to erroneous...

Government Report Urges Changes in Wind, Flood Damage Determinations

Feb 10 2008 // GAO finds fault with coverage exclusions in policies and lack of data available to assist with FEMA assessments Government adjusters trying to assess the accuracy of flood claims payments from the 2005 hurricane season...

Allstate Defends Property Insurance Rate Proposal to Lawmakers

Feb 6 2008 // Warming oceans, and the possibility they may bring more hurricanes, have to be considered when setting property insurance rates, Allstate officials told lawmakers Monday, defending themselves against allegations they are...

Former Hurricane Program Manager to Head Ala. Emergency Agency

Feb 1 2008 // Alabama Gov. Bob Riley appointed Brock Long to serve as director of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency. Long has served in emergency management at the state and federal levels specializing in hurricane planning and...

GAO Urges Changes in Wind, Flood Damage Determinations

Feb 1 2008 // Government adjusters trying to assess the accuracy of flood claims payments from the 2005 hurricane season were hampered by a lack of access to data on wind damage from the National Flood Insurance Program and private...

National Hurricane Center Names New Director

Jan 28 2008 // The National Hurricane Center’s new chief said he would deal with problems behind the scenes and work to boost morale among staffers who helped oust the former director for his outspokenness. Bill Read, 58, had been...

More Atlantic Hurricane Activity Doesn’t Mean More Landfall Risk

Jan 27 2008 // New research on the link between the formation of hurricanes in the Atlantic basin and U.S. landfall activity suggests that using Atlantic basin hurricane activity as a proxy for landfall activity can lead to erroneous...

La.’s Valued Policy Law: New Teeth for Hurricane Claims?

Jan 27 2008 // Property damage from hurricanes primarily comes from two sources: wind and water. Insurance coverage for property damaged by wind, and by rain water which enters the property as a result of wind damage, is generally...

Mississippi Official Says Criminal Probe of State Farm has New Focus

Jan 25 2008 // Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says his office opened a new criminal investigation of State Farm Insurance Cos. that is separate from its earlier probe of the insurer’s “crimes against...

Homeowner Premium Discounts for Storm Mitigation Coming to La.

Jan 23 2008 // Insurance premium discounts will soon be available to homeowners who install storm mitigation improvement devices or build or retrofit their homes to comply with Louisiana’s Uniform Construction Code, Commissioner of...

New Tools Available For Pricing Winter Storm and Fire Risk

Jan 13 2008 // While winter storms do not attract the attention of mega-catastrophes such as hurricanes and earthquakes, these smaller events can add up to impact insurers’ bottom lines. However, insurers can now avail themselves...

Declarations

Jan 13 2008 // Very Bad News “America’s job-creators pay attention to the Judicial Hellholes report. This is very bad news for Oklahoma, and it is the latest in a long list of damaging publicity Gov. Henry created for our...