Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Sunshine State Could See Higher Risk of Property-Destroying Wildfires
May 17 2022 // Perhaps the rain from hurricanes can help extinguish the wildfires. That may be the only silver lining to computer modeling reports suggesting that just as hurricanes and flooding from tropical storms are likely to...
Natural Disasters, Ukraine War Weigh on Q1 Results of Europe’s Major Reinsurers
May 16 2022 // Three out of four of the major European reinsurers reported their profits were negatively affected as a result of elevated natural catastrophe claims and a first round of claims reserves from the Russia-Ukraine war,...
How Climate Change Is Fueling More Intense Global Wildfires
May 16 2022 // Already, 2022 is taking its place in a pantheon of years that have seen the nature of fire change — and all parts of the world fall under threat. It’s only expected to get worse, with drought and heat waves looming...
Report Forecasts ‘Above-Normal’ U.S. Wildfire Season, Worse in Drought-Plagued West
May 16 2022 // The U.S. has in store an “above-normal” wildfire season if a prediction from fire weather experts holds true — “intense” may be a better word for the expectations in the Western region. Early...
The Evolution of Catastrophe Modeling Since Hurricane Andrew
May 16 2022 // There’s no question Hurricane Andrew was a wake-up call for the industry. The event paved the way for catastrophe models to revolutionize the way (re)insurers quantify, price, transfer, and manage catastrophe risk....
Report Estimates $530M Reconstruction Cost for Homes in Line of California Wildfire
May 13 2022 // Newly released data from CoreLogic show the Coastal Fire in California has burned at least 20 homes in the Orange County community of Laguna Niguel. The estimated reconstruction cost value is $530 million for the area...
Study Links Cleaner Air to More Atlantic Hurricanes
May 13 2022 // Cleaner air in United States and Europe is brewing more Atlantic hurricanes, a new U.S. government study found. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration study links changes in regionalized air pollution across...
California Fire Destroys Mansions; New Mexico Wildfire Grows
May 12 2022 // The largest wildfire in the U.S. was spreading toward mountain resort towns in northern New Mexico, prompting officials to issue another set of warnings for more people to evacuate. Meanwhile, a wildfire that erupted...
Massive New Mexico Wildfire Costs Top $65M
May 11 2022 // Many homes near America’s largest wildfire survived the latest barrage of howling winds and erratic flames but New Mexico’s governor said Tuesday the risk of more destruction is high and that the long-term...
Wisconsin Officials Issue Wildfire Warnings
May 10 2022 // Wisconsin officials issued wildfire warnings across the state this past weekend. The state Department of Natural Resources has listed 52 counties in the “very high risk” category for fires, mostly in the...
Forecast Calls for High Risk of Wildfires in Central Oregon
May 10 2022 // As summer approaches forecasters say Central Oregon has the highest fire risk of anywhere in the state. Oregon Public Broadcasting reports the latest fire season outlook, released this week by the National Interagency Fire...
Crews in New Mexico, Arizona Work to Corral Wildfires
May 10 2022 // Firefighters in northern New Mexico worked in rugged terrain ahead of a massive wildfire, feverishly trying to position crews to clear brush and stop the monster blaze from burning more homes in the Rocky Mountain...
UK’s Terrorism Reinsurer Pool Re to Reduce Reinsurance Pricing for Insurers
May 10 2022 // Pool Re, Britain’s leading terrorism reinsurer, announced the most significant reduction in its reinsurance pricing in 20 years. The reduction, which will come into effect in October 2022, will vary according to...
Artificial Intelligence Being Used to Battle Western Wildfires
May 9 2022 // With wildfires becoming bigger and more destructive as the West dries out and heats up, agencies and officials tasked with preventing and battling the blazes could soon have a new tool to add to their arsenal of prescribed...
New Mexico Residents Brace for Extreme Wildfire Conditions
May 9 2022 // With the worst of the thick wildfire smoke having blown out of town, residents of this small northern New Mexico city tried to recapture a sense of normalcy Saturday as their rural neighbors hunkered down amid predictions...
Tornadoes Hit Texas, Oklahoma; More Storms in Forecast
May 6 2022 // A springtime storm system spawned several tornadoes that whipped through areas of Texas and Oklahoma, causing damage to a school, a marijuana farm and other structures. There were no reports of serious injuries following...
Woman Whose Son Was Killed in Illinois Tornado Criticizes Amazon
May 5 2022 // The mother of a man who was killed in December when a tornado slammed into an Amazon facility in Illinois said on Tuesday that her son was only in the building because he was called into work on his day off. “It...
Disaster Declared in New Mexico Wildfire Zone
May 5 2022 // Firefighters slowed the advance of the largest wildfire in the U.S. as heavy winds relented Wednesday, while President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration that brings new financial resources to remote stretches of...
Swiss Re Reports Q1 Loss as Ukraine War, Natural Disasters and COVID Take Their Toll
May 5 2022 // Swiss Re reported a group net loss of $248 million during the first quarter, as a result of headwinds such as the war in Ukraine, higher-than-expected natural catastrophes and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This loss...
Insurance Technology: InsuredMine Integrates With HawkSoft; Betterview Adds RedZone’s Wildfire Data; CyberCube to Create Cyber Tool for Majesco
May 4 2022 // InsuredMine and HawkSoft Integrate Agency Sales and Management Insurance agency sales automation software firm InsuredMine and agency management technology firm HawkSoft have released two-way API integration between their...
