The recent spate of natural disasters hitting the U.S. has left staff of the Federal Emergency Management Agency “tapped out” and the agency in an existential reckoning, FEMA‘s chief told a congressional panel. “It is time to question what is …
Guillermo Miranda Vazquez starts his day in a parking lot near the Home Depot where he easily finds work alongside other day laborers who are cleaning up Houston after Hurricane Harvey. Some days, he clears rotted drywall and hauls out …
This year’s U.S. Atlantic hurricane season is officially the most expensive ever, racking up $202.6 billion in damages since the formal start on June 1. The costs tallied by disaster modelers Chuck Watson and Mark Johnson surpass anything they’ve seen …
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday criticized as “completely inadequate” the Trump administration’s $44 billion request to Congress for disaster relief in his hurricane-ravaged state and other areas hammered by storms. The White House shot back that Texas may …
Federal investigators said Wednesday they’ve seen no signs that a Houston-area chemical plant that flooded and partially exploded during Hurricane Harvey considered moving its highly unstable compounds offsite as a precaution. Much of Arkema Inc.’s facility in Crosby, just outside …
The relaxation of state regulations after Hurricane Harvey has allowed Texas coastal communities to undertake nearly a dozen dune reconstruction projects. Galveston can authorize emergency beachfront repairs until at least Jan. 3, including for dunes damaged by the storm, the …
The aftermath of this year’s hurricanes includes massive reconstruction across the impacted areas, which in turn creates an increased possibility for construction defect claims that would affect the liability insurance market. When Hurricane Harvey swept over large portions of Texas, …
The insurance business has been good to Warren Buffett. For decades, his stable of carriers at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. have provided him billions of dollars to invest. They’ve also turned an underwriting profit every year since 2002. That streak could …
They had to find new words. In advance of Hurricane Harvey‘s landfall, the meteorologists at the National Weather Service in League City, Texas, felt they needed to break from the usual language they use to communicate the dangers of the …
Flooded vehicles have finally stopped arriving at the Royal Purple Raceway east of Houston. Some 23,000 now await processing and retitling to be auctioned off for parts or to be scrapped. That is just one of several insurance industry salvage …