Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Neptune Flood Acquires Parametric Earthquake Insurance Broker Jumpstart
Oct 4 2021 // Digital flood insurance provider Neptune Flood has acquired Jumpstart Insurance Solutions, a parametric insurtech broker that offers parametric earthquake policies. Terms were not disclosed. Jumpstart, a licensed surplus...
Goats Being Brought in to Help Slow Colorado Wildfires
Oct 4 2021 // A group of horse trailers pulls up to a trailhead outside of Carbondale, Colo. The doors open and more than 800 goats jump out onto the gravel parking lot. The goats head straight for the closest grassy hill and...
Catastrophe Data Firm PERILS Launches Real-Time Hailstorm Loss Platform for Australia
Oct 1 2021 // PERILS, the independent Zurich-based organization that provides industry-wide catastrophe insurance data, has announced the launch of a new platform providing real-time industry loss estimates for hailstorm events in...
Report Shows Wyoming, Idaho Have ‘Disproportionate Risk’ from Wildfire
Sep 29 2021 // Lately, when people say “wildfire,” California is probably the first state that comes to mind. But a new report out should concern people living in a few other Western states that aren’t often mentioned...
PG&E Charged in California Wildfire That Killed 4
Sep 29 2021 // Pacific Gas & Electric was charged Friday with involuntary manslaughter and other crimes after its equipment sparked a Northern California wildfire that killed four people and destroyed hundreds of homes last year,...
Louisiana Extends Hurricane Ida Insurance-Related Emergency Rule
Sep 28 2021 // Louisiana extended the emergency rule that allows suspension of insurance related statutes in the 25 parishes affected by Hurricane Ida, the insurance department said. The Louisiana Department of Insurance reported that...
Shell Plans Mid-October Post-Hurricane Restart for Louisiana Refinery
Sep 28 2021 // Royal Dutch Shell Plc tentatively plans the first restart of a production unit at its 230,611 barrel-per-day (bpd) Norco, Louisiana, refinery for mid-October, sources familiar with plant operations said on Monday. A Shell...
Mexican Insurtech Startup Offers Quick Claims Payments for Earthquake Damage
Sep 27 2021 // Mexican startup Super, which offers coverage for earthquake property damages, plans to expand into hurricane insurance and possibly raise a fresh funding round next year, according to chief executive officer and founder...
Suspected Arson Wildfire Forces Evacuations in Northern California
Sep 24 2021 // Thousands of people were under evacuation orders Friday and many others were on notice to be ready to flee as a destructive wildfire raged in a drought-stricken forest in California’s far north. A woman suspected of...
Insured Price Tag for Canada’s Summer Storms and Wildfires Nears C$200M
Sep 24 2021 // Two storms that raged across Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada in July and August caused C$120 million (US$94.5 million) in insured damage, while the August wildfire, in White Rock Lake, British Columbia, is now estimated...
Karen Clark & Co. Releases Version 1.0 of U.S. Wildfire Model
Sep 22 2021 // Karen Clark & Co. (KCC), the Boston-based catastrophe modeling company, announced it has released Version 1.0 of its high-resolution U.S. Wildfire Model. This advanced and fully probabilistic model provides exceedance...
Damage from Hurricane Ida to Cut Shell Oil Production Until Early Next Year
Sep 21 2021 // Royal Dutch Shell, the largest U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil producer, said damage to offshore transfer facilities from Hurricane Ida will cut production into early next year, slashing deliveries of a type of crude oil prized by...
Analysis: Ida’s Destruction May Help Louisiana’s Hurricane Laura Victims
Sep 20 2021 // Hurricane Ida’s thrashing left homes in mangled heaps across southeastern Louisiana, but in an uncomfortable twist, the storm might have been a boon to southwestern parishes still struggling to recover from last...
Aluminum Wrap Being Used to Protect Homes from California Wildfires
Sep 20 2021 // Martin Diky said he panicked as a huge wildfire started racing down a slope toward his wooden house near Lake Tahoe. The contractor had enough time to do some quick research and decided to wrap his mountain home with an...
AIR: Hurricane Ida Losses Could Reach $30B
Sep 20 2021 // Modeling firm AIR Worldwide updated its insured loss estimates for Hurricane Ida and now projects that Ida’s insured industry losses will range from $20 billion to $30 billion. The estimate includes inland flood...
No Injuries as 4.3M Earthquake Rattles Los Angeles
Sep 19 2021 // A small earthquake shook the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area Friday night, the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed. There weren’t any immediate reports of major damage or injuries. The magnitude-4.3 quake struck...
RMS Estimates US$31– $44 Billion in Total U.S. Onshore and Offshore Insured Losses from Hurricane Ida
Sep 17 2021 // Estimates reflect insured wind, storm surge, and inland flooding impacts in the U.S., including losses to the National Flood Insurance Program and the private flood market. Newark, CA – September 17, 2021 – RMS®, the...
Tropical Storm Nicholas Expected to Bring Flash Flooding to Deep South
Sep 14 2021 // Tropical Storm Nicholas is expected to produce life-threatening flash flooding to portions of the deep South through early Friday according to the National Hurricane Center. Nicholas was approximately 50 miles east of...
AccuWeather: Nicholas Hits Texas as Cat 1 Hurricane
Sep 14 2021 // Nicholas made landfall as a hurricane, packing 75-mph winds, on the coast of Texas on Monday night, and AccuWeather forecasters say the slow-moving storm will unleash life-threatening flooding along the Texas Gulf Coast,...
PG&E Judge Wants to Know Why Power Wasn’t Cut on Line Linked to Wildfire
Sep 14 2021 // A federal judge wants PG&E Corp. to explain why it didn’t turn off power sooner to a utility line suspected of causing the second-largest wildfire in California history. At a hearing Monday, U.S. District Judge...
