Archive for June 2018

Officials on Hawaii’s Big Island let some people back into their homes and scaled down emergency operations Monday as lava flowed into the ocean on a path that wasn’t threatening new areas. “We’ve pretty much thrown everything at this event” … Source: Claims Journal

Research suggests the magnitude 6.0 earthquake that rocked California wine country in 2014 may have been caused by an expansion of Earth’s crust because of seasonally receding groundwater under the Napa and Sonoma valleys. The vineyard-filled valleys flank the West … Source: Claims Journal

It turns out robots need insurance too. As driverless vehicles reduce car ownership in coming years, insurers may not face the Armageddon that had been predicted, new research shows. “We do not expect revenues for auto insurance companies to experience … Source: Claims Journal

An early June hailstorm caused an estimated $1 billion in insured losses to residential and commercial properties and automobiles, the majority of which is expected to be in Texas, according to Karen Clark & Company. Baseball-sized hail was reported in … Source: Claims Journal

The federal government, seeking to protect itself from the growing cost of natural disasters, is borrowing a technique from the private sector and buying reinsurance. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which started purchasing reinsurance last year for the National Flood … Source: Claims Journal

How many people died in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria? It’s a question that has been debated since the powerful storm slammed into the island and devastated the U.S. territory last year. It’s also raised questions about how officials go … Source: Claims Journal

You don’t just feel the heat of global warming, you can see it in action all around. Some examples of where climate change’s effects have been measured: Glaciers across the globe are melting and retreating, with 279 billion tons of … Source: Claims Journal

More than 250 firefighters raced to the hills overlooking Los Angeles, Calif., to battle a blaze Tuesday afternoon they say was sparked by someone using a power tool to clear brush in a neighborhood of multimillion-dollar mansions. Helicopters repeatedly dropped … Source: Claims Journal

Underwriting losses in the U.S. P/C personal lines segment moved higher for the fourth straight year in 2017, though this time another segment drove the increase, according to Fitch Ratings in a new report. Personal lines are the largest major … Source: Claims Journal

A third-party vendor is being blamed for a mistaken tsunami alert broadcast on Alaska TV and radio stations last month. Dennis Bookey, co-chair of the Alaska State Emergency Communications Committee, said that this and similar incidents suggest the format of … Source: Claims Journal