Hurricane Irene News

Connecticut Grants Drivers Extra License Renewal Time

Connecticut drivers will have some extra time to renew their licenses and registrations as they cope with delays, power outages and storm damage from Tropical Storm Irene. The state Department of Motor Vehicles is extending the validity of licenses, registrations, …

North Carolina County Recovers From Trio of Disasters

Driving along the back roads of Bertie County, it’s hard sometimes to tell one disaster’s damage from another. That huge old tree, its limbs chopped and stacked after falling across a road, was definitely toppled by Hurricane Irene. But what …

Irene Raises Hurricane Deductible Questions in Hard-Hit Northeast States

New York and New Jersey regulators said recently that hurricane deductibles should not apply on homeowners’ insurance policies for Irene damages in their states. That’s because Irene was downgraded and designated as a tropical storm, not a hurricane, when it …

Virginia Governor Defends Mandatory Evacuations

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell credited mandatory evacuations for saving lives during Hurricane Irene. As many as 200,000 Virginians were under mandatory evacuation orders during the weekend storm, and many others were urged to leave coastal areas and those prone to …

Vermont, New Jersey, Upstate New York Still Underwater from Irene

Floodwaters finally started to recede from areas of the U.S. northeast devastated by Hurricane Irene but many communities were still under water Wednesday as relief workers battled cut-off roads and raging rivers to deliver emergency supplies. The storm battered the …

Insurance Lawsuits to Follow Irene

As the water recedes from Hurricane Irene, lawyers are expecting disputes over insurance coverage to pour in. The biggest fights will stem from arguments over property damage and whether it resulted from wind or water, legal experts said. Similar questions …

Insurer Ratings Unaffected, Stocks Rally As Losses from Irene Look Manageable

Loss estimates from Hurricane Irene continued to fall and ratings agencies said insurers would have no problem with claims, helping boost insurance industry shares Wednesday. The relatively limited losses that Irene appears to have caused to the private insurance industry …

Irene’s Impact on Private Insurance Markets

The $7 billion in estimated losses from Hurricane Irene compound the vast damage caused by weather in the United States this year. Yet despite billions they’ve paid out for floods, tornadoes and earthquakes, big insurance companies can expect another profitable …

Irene’s Impact on Fragile U.S. Economy

The struggling U.S. economy should escape largely unscathed from Hurricane Irene and may even get a boost from reconstruction. Irene, which killed about 40 people when it dumped 5 to 15 inches (12 to 38 cm) of rain over wide …

Can Federal Flood Insurance Handle Irene Losses?

The only thing worse than getting flooded out of your home once is getting flooded out of it twice. Or, for that matter, over and over again. Margaret Wert bought her Wayne, New Jersey house in 1999, relying on assurances …