Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California Wildfire Continues to Spread Rapidly to 164K Acres
Jul 26 2024 // A massive wildfire in Northern California has destroyed an undetermined number of buildings and is threatening thousands or properties, prompting thousands of evacuations orders, as it continued to rage on Friday...
Typhoon Gaemi Lashes Southeast China After Pounding Taiwan, Flooding Philippines
Jul 26 2024 // Typhoon Gaemi lashed towns on China’s coastal Fujian province on Friday with heavy rains and strong winds as the most powerful storm to hit the country this year began its widely watched trek into the populous...
Devastating Wildfire Burns Down Almost 50% of Western Canadian Tourist Town
Jul 26 2024 // A raging wildfire has devastated the western Canadian tourist town of Jasper, potentially destroying up to 50% of structures, and firefighters were trying Thursday to save as many buildings as possible, authorities...
Typhoon Gaemi Aims for China, Leaves Vessels Capsized
Jul 25 2024 // Authorities in Taiwan raced to find crew missing from a ship that capsized in bad weather after Typhoon Gaemi ripped through the region before losing strength as it heads toward China. Nine Myanmar nationals were missing...
Hurricanes Get the Headlines But Inland Flooding Tops the Disaster List
Jul 25 2024 // Floyd County keeps flooding and the federal government keeps coming to the rescue. In July 2022, at least 40 people died and 300 homes were damaged when the eastern Kentucky county flooded. It was the 13th time in 12 years...
Canadian Wildfires Threaten Oil Output, Prompt Evacuations
Jul 24 2024 // Wildfires in Canada’s energy-producing Alberta province are threatening almost 10% of the region’s oil production and forcing the evacuation of one of the country’s largest national parks during the peak...
Deadly Typhoon Gaemi Floods Philippines, Shuts Taiwan
Jul 24 2024 // Typhoon Gaemi claimed the lives of at least four people and forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands in the Philippines, where parts of Manila are flooded even as the storm moves towards Taiwan. Packing sustained...
Heat-Related Texas Deaths Climb After Hurricane Beryl Power Outages
Jul 23 2024 // SPRING, Texas (AP) — As the temperature soared in the Houston-area home Janet Jarrett shared with her sister after losing electricity in Hurricane Beryl, she did everything she could to keep her 64-year-old sibling...
World Records Hottest Day While Wildfires Threaten Mediterranean
Jul 23 2024 // The world recorded its hottest ever day, as many parts of the Mediterranean face extreme wildfire risks. Sunday witnessed the highest average temperature on Earth, breaching a previous record set a year ago, according to...
Taiwan’s Earthquake Proves Prevention Really Is the New Solution
Jul 23 2024 // This post is part of a series sponsored by AgentSync. Once in a while, a would-be major catastrophe has a less catastrophic ending than expected. While the April 2024 Taiwan earthquake still took a large toll, including...
US Severe Storms Continue to Drive Global Natural Disaster Losses: Gallagher Re
Jul 22 2024 // US severe convective storms (SCS) continued to drive global natural catastrophe losses during the first half of 2024. Of the estimated $61 billion in global H1 insured losses from natural disasters, US SCS accounted for a...
Buffett’s PacifiCorp Suspected of Collusion by Wildfire Victims’ Law Firms
Jul 22 2024 // The law firms leading class-action litigation against PacifiCorp over the 2020 Labor Day weekend wildfires in Oregon want to examine whether the utility owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is colluding with...
Hurricane Beryl Caused Estimated $2-3B in Insured Losses to US Property: Verisk
Jul 19 2024 // Estimated industry insured losses to onshore property from wind in the U.S. for Hurricane Beryl will range between $2 billion to $3 billion, Verisk’s Extreme Event Solutions business unit said. Beryl made landfall...
Coalition Asks FEMA to Make Wildfire Smoke, Extreme Heat Eligible for Disaster Funds
Jul 18 2024 // A group of 14 attorney generals has formed a coalition to persuade the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to initiate rulemaking to update its regulations to recognize extreme heat and wildfire smoke events as...
Reckitt Sales to Be Hit by Tornado at Indiana Warehouse
Jul 17 2024 // Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc said sales will be affected by a tornado that struck a warehouse in Mount Vernon, Indiana, where it stores products and raw ingredients for its baby formula business. The consumer goods company...
Record Flooding and Tornadoes This Spring In Iowa Caused $130M in Damage
Jul 17 2024 // DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Record flooding and powerful tornadoes ravaged parts of Iowa for weeks this spring, destroying or damaging thousands of homes, closing roads and bridges and costing over $130 million in...
Rebuilding After Hurricanes is Complex, Can Change Character of a Community
Jul 17 2024 // HORSESHOE BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Before Hurricane Idalia smashed into a small fishing village in northwestern Florida, Charles Long, 68, was fixing up a two-bedroom house for him and his wife. After the August storm, he...
Hurricane Beryl Caused $2.5-$4.5B in Estimated Insured Losses, Says Moody’s
Jul 16 2024 // U.S. insured losses from Hurricane Beryl will likely fall between $2.5 billion to $4.5 billion, according to estimates by Moody’s RMS Event Response. Insured losses associated with the storm include wind, storm...
Hawaiian Residents Return Home After Crews Contain Wind-Swept Wildfire
Jul 16 2024 // Firefighters have contained a wind-swept wildfire that was threatening about 200 homes on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, authorities said late Monday night, and an evacuation notice for the area has been lifted. The fire...
CenterPoint Sued Over Hurricane Beryl Power Outages in Houston
Jul 16 2024 // A group of Houston restaurants that lost power for days after Hurricane Beryl sued the city’s main utility, accusing CenterPoint Energy Inc. of failing to adequately invest in infrastructure and respond to widespread...