Extreme Weather News

Storm Hitting Chinese Ports is a Wakeup Call for Climate Risk to Markets

DUBAI —As Typhoon Doksuri aimed toward mainland China, major southeast ports were forced to turn away dozens of vessels for days. The storm, supercharged by the warm July waters of the Pacific, delivered Beijing’s worst flooding in more than 50 …

Extreme Weather Can Hit Farmers Hard. Those With Smaller Farming Operations Often Pay the Price

MAYFIELD, Ky. (AP) — Justin Ralph estimates he`s made about 200 trips delivering grain from the fields he farms with his brother and uncle this year. They`re accustomed to using their four semi-trucks to take the harvest from a total …

Some Houses Are Being Built to Stand Up to Hurricanes and Sharply Cut Emissions, Too

When Hurricane Michael hit the Florida Panhandle five years ago, it left boats, cars and trucks piled up to the windows of Bonny Paulson`s home in the tiny coastal community of Mexico Beach, Florida, even though the house rests on …

Catastrophe Bond Market Defies Global Selloff With Record Returns

As bond markets everywhere get battered by a cocktail of higher interest rates, deficit angst and hawkish central bankers, one class of debt instrument is handing creditors double-digit returns: catastrophe bonds. Investors in the $40 billion market for so-called cat …

Global Economic Losses from Extreme Weather Could Hit $5 Trillion – Lloyd’s

Global economic losses could reach $5 trillion under a “plausible increase” in extreme weather events linked to climate change that cause crop failures and food and water shortages, insurance marketplace Lloyd’s of London said on Wednesday. Lloyd’s, which carried out …

Climate Change Is Causing an Insurance Crisis in Louisiana

A little over a year ago, Peter Gardner, a Louisiana developer, completed rehabbing an apartment building with 144 units and got a surprise so ugly it made him decide to move his business out of town. When the project began, …

Hurricane Idalia Intensifies as It Churns Toward Florida

Hurricane Idalia is gathering force in advance of a landfall on Florida’s west coast, where it could drive a deadly wall of water into the shoreline, snap trees and cause widespread power outages. Idalia’s winds topped 85 miles (137 kilometers) …

RLI Sees Up to $75 Million in Catastrophe Losses from Hawaiian Wildfires in Q3

Property and casualty insurer RLI Corp said on Wednesday it expects to record pretax net catastrophe losses of between $65 million and $75 million from Hawaiian wildfires in the third quarter of 2023. Wildfires earlier this month on Hawaii’s Maui, …

California’s Desert and Mountain Towns Dig Out From Hilary’s Mud

Crews worked to dig roads, buildings and care home residents out of the mud across a wide swath of Southwestern U.S. desert Monday, as the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years headed north, prompting flood watches …

Severe Weather Set to Boost U.S. Disaster Funding Needs, FEMA Says

Growing extreme-weather risks mean President Joe Biden’s expected request for billions in extra disaster-relief funding might not be enough for the next fiscal year, FEMA head Deanne Criswell said. Biden’s roughly $12 billion request would cover the spending year ending …