insured losses News

Post-Tornado, Looters Come from Afar to Oklahoma

Authorities say looters have come from as far away as New York and Virginia to steal from victims of last month’s tornado in Moore, Okla. The Oklahoman reports that police arrested one man from Elmhurst, N.Y., and two from Virginia …

Oklahoma Tornado Damage Likely to Exceed Joplin – Commissioner

The damage from Monday’s tornado in a suburb of Oklahoma City is likely to exceed that caused by the 2011 twister in Joplin, Missouri, that killed 161 people, Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak said. In an interview with Reuters after …

Mistake Made Handling Colorado Waldo Canyon Fire: Report

A dispatcher made a mistake when she failed to relay a 911 call about a wildfire hours before it roared out of control, but no one knows if it would have made a difference in the damage it caused, according …

Swiss Re Study for 2012 Losses: $77 Bn Insured; $186 Bn Economic

Swiss Re has released its latest sigma study, which found that economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters reached $186 billion in 2012. Insured losses amounted to $77 billion, making 2012 the third most costly year on record. Weather …

Aon Benfield’s 2012 Cat Review Finds 36% Rise in Insured Losses at $133 Billion

Impact Forecasting, the catastrophe model development center of excellence at Aon Benfield, has published its Annual Global Climate and Catastrophe Report along with the establishment of a new website, Catastrophe Insight, which, it noted, “provides 10 years of catastrophe data, …

Fire Codes Getting Tougher After Damaging Colorado Blaze

Fire codes could be getting stricter in the Colorado Springs neighborhood devastated by last summer’s Waldo Canyon Fire. The Gazette reported that Colorado Springs’ city council has given preliminary approval to fire code changes to make homes more fire resistant …

Colorado Springs Wildfire Expected To Create Jobs

Economists say a wildfire that burned 346 homes and scorched 28 square miles in the Colorado Springs area over the summer could provide an economic boost over the next five years. Insurance claims for the contents and homes damaged in …

Report: Wildfires Pose Risk to Three-Quarter-Million Western U.S. Homes

More than three-quarters of a million homes in the Western U.S. have a high risk of wildfire damage, according to a report released by Santa Ana, Calif.-based CoreLogic. CoreLogic’s Wildfire Hazard Risk Report identifies more than 740,000 residences across 13 …

Swiss Re Report Analyzes Rise in Flood Losses – $15 Billion and Counting

A new report from Swiss Re underscores the fact the “insured flood losses have increased from $1–2 billion in 1970 to $15 billion in 2011, which it describes as an “alarming rate” while posing “unique challenges for the industry” as …

U.S. Insured Losses from Hurricane Isaac Could Reach $2B: AIR

Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide estimates that insured losses from Hurricane Isaac to onshore properties in the U.S. will be between $700 million and $2 billion. AIR estimates include wind and storm surge damage to onshore residential, commercial and industrial …