Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Team Investigating Deadly California Wildfire Seizes PG&E Equipment
Oct 12 2020 // Fire investigators looking into what caused a wildfire that killed four people in far Northern California have taken possession of equipment belonging to Pacific Gas and Electric, the utility has reported. PG&E said in...
State Takes over Houston’s Hurricane Harvey Home Repair Program
Oct 12 2020 // All Houston, Texas, resident Alice Torres has wanted in the three years since Hurricane Harvey hit was to repair her family’s flood-damaged home so her 85-year-old mother can feel safe and settled again. But when her...
Returning After Hurricane Delta, Louisiana Evacuees Face Power Outages, Extreme Heat
Oct 11 2020 // 10/11/2020 06:21 PM— Storm-weary coastal Louisiana residents who fled from the path of Hurricane Delta in recent days streamed back to their homes on Sunday to face cleanup and repairs from the second hurricane to batter...
From Wildfires to Sally to China Floods, September Was a Disastrous Month
Oct 9 2020 // Third quarters are often the costliest of the year in terms natural disasters. Insurance broker Aon’s monthly Global Catastrophe Recap report, which evaluates the impact of the natural disaster events that occurred...
Louisiana Insurance Commissioner: Pay Only 1 Hurricane Deductible Per Season
Oct 8 2020 // Louisiana’s single season named-storm/hurricane deductible law prohibits a homeowner from paying more than one named-storm/hurricane deductible in the same hurricane season, the state insurance department is...
Still in Recovery Mode, Louisiana Braces for Hurricane Delta
Oct 8 2020 // Louisiana is steeling itself for another in a record-breaking series of violent storms as Hurricane Delta sped across the Gulf of Mexico toward a region still recovering from the last storm. Delta struck Mexico’s...
U.S. Offshore Energy Firms Prep for Massive Hurricane
Oct 7 2020 // Oil and gas workers withdrew en masse from U.S. offshore production facilities and onshore refineries began preparations on Wednesday as Hurricane Delta was forecast to grow into a powerful storm over the Caribbean on its...
Category 3 Hurricane Delta Hits Mexico; Expected to Strengthen, Then Move to U.S.
Oct 7 2020 // Updated Oct 7., 2020, 6:58 AM— Hurricane Delta weakened to a Category 3 storm just before slamming into the coast of Mexico, but remains life-threatening. Delta came ashore along the northeastern Yucatan Peninsula near...
Alabama Coast Struggles to Recover from Hurricane Sally
Oct 6 2020 // Alabama’s beaches have reopened, but the state’s coast has hardly recovered fully from the effects of Hurricane Sally last month. Visitors still have limited options for getting to the sand because so many...
Rebuilding in Wildfire Zones: A One-Stop Shop for Wildfire Victims
Oct 6 2020 // California is on fire. Already this year, thousands of people have lost their homes, and communities are struggling to figure out how to rebuild. Nikki Pechet wants to be the person they turn to. Pechet co-founded...
Tropical Storm Delta Expected to Threaten Gulf Coast as Major Hurricane This Week
Oct 6 2020 // 10/06/2020 09:09 AM— Hurricane Delta, the 25th named Atlantic storm this year, is moving toward the Gulf of Mexico and expected to take aim at the U.S. Gulf Coast this week as a major hurricane, the National Hurricane...
Hyperactive Hurricane Season Highlights Need for Flood Insurance
Oct 5 2020 // Tropical Storm Beta made landfall on the central Texas coast on Sept. 21 as the 23rd named storm of the hyperactive 2020 Atlantic hurricane season and the third to hit the Gulf Coast this year. Slow moving Beta dumped...
California Commissioner Asks Insurers to Cover Wildfire Losses Sans Home Inventory
Oct 2 2020 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara is asking insurance companies help wildfire survivors by providing up to 100% of personal property coverage limits without a detailed inventory to those who suffered a total...
Report: Nearly 2M Homes at Elevated Risk of Wildfire
Sep 30 2020 // Nearly 2 million homes, mostly in the Western U.S., with a rebuilding value of more than $638 billion are at an elevated risk of wildfire damage, a report out today shows. An annual wildfire report from data provider...
The Big Question Is Can U.S. Restrain Worsening Wildfires?
Sep 29 2020 // This is one of a series of interviews by Bloomberg Opinion columnists on how to solve pressing policy challenges. This conversation has been edited and condensed. Romesh Ratnesar: The American West is suffering through a...
Oregon Insurance Division Issues Amended Wildfire Emergency Order
Sep 28 2020 // The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services’ Division of Financial Regulation has issued an amended wildfire emergency order. The amended order means that insurance companies must immediately take steps...
Wildfire Forces Home, Hospital Evacuations in California’s Napa Valley Wine Area
Sep 28 2020 // A wind-driven wildfire erupted on Sunday in the heart of northern California’s Napa Valley wine country to spread across nearly 2,000 acres (809 hectares), forcing the evacuation of a hospital and hundreds of homes,...
Louisiana Utility: Hurricane Laura Repair Costs Now at $1.4B
Sep 28 2020 // A Louisiana utility says the cost to restore electricity and repair power lines damaged in the state during Hurricane Laura is now up to $1.4 billion. Entergy Corp., the New Orleans-based utility serving many of the areas...
Western Wildfires Taint Vineyards With Taste Of Smoke
Sep 25 2020 // Smoke from the West Coast wildfires has tainted grapes in some of the nation’s most celebrated wine regions with an ashy flavor that could spell disaster for the 2020 vintage. Wineries in California, Oregon and...
Texas Windstorm Insurer Seeks More Data on Rate Adequacy, Hurricane Modeling
Sep 24 2020 // The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association’s actuarial and underwriting committee is seeking more data from TWIA staff and an actuarial consulting firm on rate adequacy and catastrophe modeling for potential hurricane...
