Devastating floods struck Thailand last week and threatened to cause catastrophic damage to the nation’s capital, Bangkok. The floods are the result of heavy rainfall and violent storms that have been occurring throughout the country and in neighboring Myanmar. The recent floods are the worst the country has experienced in over 50 years and have killed more than 350 people thus far. Thousands more have been displaced as the relatively few insurance organizations operating in Thailand attempt to mitigate the disaster. The Thai government, led by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra,…
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Typhoon Nesat Makes Landfall in Philippines
According to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide, Typhoon Nesat (known locally as “Pedring”) made landfall in the eastern Isabela and Aurora provinces on the Pacific coast of the Philippines at 18:21 GMT Monday, September 26 with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (195 kilometers per hour), making it a category 2 typhoon. Nesat came ashore exactly two years after Typhoon Ketsana, the most devastating typhoon for the Philippines in the 2009 Pacific typhoon season. “Strong monsoonal flow from the south resulted in significant moisture and more than 400 mm of…
Read MoreThree storms in the Atlantic have insurers and storm watchers worried
As the hurricane season continues its slow march, new storms are appearing in the Atlantic Ocean, spurring concerns that this season may make good on the promise of unusually high activity. The National Hurricane Center has been tracking Hurricane Katia for a number of weeks as it has hovered just off the East Coast, fluctuating between hurricane status and that of a tropical storm. Two new storms have sprouted in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, and both have storm watchers worried. At present, Katia is designated as a…
Read MoreAIR Estimates Insured Losses from Tropical Storm Talas to Be Between 150 million and 600 million
BOSTON, Sept. 7, 2011 — Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide estimates that insured losses from Tropical Storm Talas will be between JPY 12 billion (USD 150 million) and JPY 46 billion (USD 600 million). Talas is the season’s 12th named storm, the seventh severe tropical storm and the fifth typhoon of the 2011 Pacific typhoon season. “Tropical Storm Talas came ashore at Kochi Prefecture on Japan’s Shikoku island-the smallest and least populated of the country’s four main islands-at roughly 6 am local time Saturday, September 3,” said Dr. Peter Sousounis,…
Read MoreHurricane Irene Batters Bahamas on Way toward U.S. East Coast
BOSTON, Aug. 25, 2011 – According to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide, Hurricane Irene is passing through the central Bahamas islands this morning after a night of battering the southern islands with heavy rains and strong winds. At the time of the National Hurricane Center’s 8:00 am EDT Advisory, Category 3 Hurricane Irene was about 65 miles east-northeast of Nassau, the capital and largest city of the Bahamas. Irene’s maximum sustained winds are 115 miles per hour with higher gusts. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 70 miles from the…
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