natural catastrophes News

Slovenia Estimates €7 Billion Price Tag for Reconstruction After Floods

Rebuilding from this month’s floods in Slovenia will cost €7 billion ($7.6 billion) over the next five years, Prime Minister Robert Golob said. The government is preparing new legislation to serve as a road map for reconstruction after the worst …

Super Typhoon Saola Lashes Taiwan Before Heading to Hong Kong

Super Typhoon Saola pummeled the south of Taiwan early Wednesday with strong winds and heavy rain, shutting offices and canceling some flights before heading to Hong Kong. Authorities in Taiwan, where no typhoon has made landfall since 2019, closed offices …

Dutch Insurer NN Says Extreme Weather May Make Further Premium Hikes Unavoidable

Dutch insurer NN Group NV may increase premiums further as extreme weather patterns become more prevalent, Chief Executive Officer David Knibbe said. While NN benefited from benign weather conditions in the first half of the year, the July storm in …

More Than 600 Firefighters, Water-Dropping Planes Struggle to Control Greece Wildfires

More than 600 firefighters, including reinforcements from several European countries and backed by a fleet of water-dropping planes and helicopters, were battling three major wildfires in Greece Sunday, two of which have been raging for days. A massive blaze in …

Nova Scotia Floods Cost Insurers More Than C$170 Million

An atmospheric river event that led to significant flooding in parts of Nova Scotia on July 23, 2023, is estimated to have caused over C$170 million (US$125.5 million) in insured damage, according to initial estimates from Catastrophe Indices and Quantification …

Climate Change Doubled Odds of Eastern Canada’s Extreme Wildfire Weather: Research

This summer’s wildfires in eastern Canada have raged so intensely that smoke from them darkened skies as far away as Portugal. From the outset, scientists said that Canada’s historic wildfire season bore the hallmarks of climate change. Now, a new …

Insured Losses From Natural Catastrophes Set to Top $100 Billion for 3rd Year in a Row

Claims for weather-related incidents are set to exceed $100 billion for the third year in a row, as floods, hail and wildfires linked to climate change become more frequent. Munich Re has put the total global insured costs of natural-catastrophe …

What Are China’s ‘Sponge Cities’ and Why Aren’t They Stopping Urban Floods?

China has been hit by devastating floods in recent weeks, inundating cities and causing deaths and infrastructural damage, as well as raising questions about the effectiveness of its 2015 “sponge city” initiative aimed at reducing urban flood risks. The initiative …

Typhoon Lan Grounds Flights, Halts Trains as It Crosses Japan

Typhoon Lan reached the coast of central Japan early Tuesday, grounding flights and halting trains as residents braced for heavy rain, flooding and landslides. Known locally as Typhoon No. 7, the storm has been traversing the archipelago’s central belt since …

Japan Faces Another Typhoon With Trains, Hundreds of Flights Canceled

Japan is preparing for its second typhoon in a week, with airline companies canceling flights and rail operators halting some operations. Typhoon Lan is forecast to make landfall Tuesday in central Japan near Osaka, the country’s second largest metropolitan area, …