Hurricane Season News

More New Florida Property Insurers in Trouble?

Florida insurance regulators this week notified a Jacksonville-based insurer that it has until the end of the month to comply with solvency requirements to avoid suspension or losing its license. And the warning to Southern Oak Insurance Co. is just …

Florida Cabinet Delays Hurricane Fund Assessments

The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund needs $710 million to continue to pay claims still coming in from 2005’s Hurricane Wilma but it is going to have to wait to assess policyholders to get those funds. The Florida Cabinet said it …

Hurricane Forecasters Promise Earlier Warnings

The National Hurricane Center has vowed it will begin issuing storm watches and warnings about half a day sooner in the biggest change to its warning system in decades. When a storm is approaching land, forecasters will now send watches …

El Nino Dissipating, But May Linger Through 2010

The deadly El Nino weather anomaly should dissipate by early summer in the northern hemisphere, but there is a chance a weak version will linger for the rest of 2010, according to a U.S. government report issued Thursday. The federal …

Flood Insurance Program Closed; No Policies Until Senate Votes

The Senate last week failed to vote on bills to extend several federal programs including jobless benefits, COBRA subsidies, transportation project funding and flood insurance before these programs expired Feb. 28. A single senator, Jim Bunning, R-Ky., has derailed final …

Florida Cabinet Delays Hurricane Fund Assessments

The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund needs $710 million to continue to pay claims still coming in from 2005’s Hurricane Wilma but it is going to have to wait to assess policyholders to get those funds. The Florida Cabinet yesterday indicated …

Haiti Death Toll Rises to 230,000; CCRIF, CIMH Study Future Disaster Mitigation Efforts

The appalling loss of life from the earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12 has now been estimated by the government to exceed 230,000. The figure is an approximation, as the exact number may never be known. But it is …

North Carolina Court Reviews Coastal Rate Hikes

A North Carolina appeals court is weighing whether to reverse a decision that resulted in homeowners insurance prices going up by almost 30 percent along the coast and down by a third in inland counties. A three-judge Court of Appeals …

Louisiana’s Plaquemines Parish OKs St. Bernard Levee Plan

Resolving what could have been a four-month delay to a crucial piece of the levee system around St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, the Plaquemines Parish Council has approved a plan for a small stretch of the project to cross into Plaquemines. …

North Carolina Court Hears Challenge to Coastal Insurance Rate Hike

A North Carolina appeals court is weighing whether to freeze or even reverse homeowners’ insurance premiums that soared by up to almost 30 percent along the coast while sliding by a third in counties farthest from the shore. A three-judge …