homeowners insurance News

California Wildfire Continues to Spread Rapidly to 164K Acres

A massive wildfire in Northern California has destroyed an undetermined number of buildings and is threatening thousands or properties, prompting thousands of evacuations orders, as it continued to rage on Friday morning. The Park fire, which became the state’s largest …

Northern California Fire Becomes State’s Biggest in a Day, Evacuations Ordered

A wildfire that started Wednesday near Chico, California grew quickly to 45,549 acres overnight to become the state’s largest active blaze. Evacuation orders and warnings were issued, but the number of residents affected or properties damaged or destroyed has yet …

‘Surface Waters’ on Roof Are Not ‘Flood’ Waters, Massachusetts High Court Rules

The highest court in Massachusetts has ruled that rainwater accumulation on roofs of buildings does not constitute “surface waters” within the meaning of “flood” in property insurance policies. The court found that the term “surface waters” in policies is ambiguous …

With American Mobile Cancellations, Florida Mobile Home Market Has ‘Fallen Apart’

Reinsurance in Florida’s long-stressed property insurance market was supposed to have stabilized this year – with moderate rate increases and more availability. But those calmer waters apparently have not reached the mobile home market, and Florida insurance agents are now …

Buffett’s PacifiCorp Suspected of Collusion by Wildfire Victims’ Law Firms

The law firms leading class-action litigation against PacifiCorp over the 2020 Labor Day weekend wildfires in Oregon want to examine whether the utility owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is colluding with other law firms to reach lowball settlements with …

Hawaiian Electric Among Firms Eyeing $4B Maui Fire Deal

Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. is among the companies that have tentatively agreed to pay more than $4 billion to resolve hundreds of lawsuits over the wildfires that ripped through Maui last year, according to people familiar with the deal. The …

The Problem(s) With Hail Claims – Part 3

Read the first part in this series, The Problem(s) With Hail Claims, Part 1: A Cautionary Tale for Insureds and Insurers, and the second part in this series, The Problem(s) With Hail Claims – Part 2. My previous two columns …

Record Flooding and Tornadoes This Spring in Iowa Caused $130M in Damage

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Record flooding and powerful tornadoes ravaged parts of Iowa for weeks this spring, destroying or damaging thousands of homes, closing roads and bridges and costing over $130 million in infrastructure damage, officials said. The disasters …

Rebuilding After Hurricanes is Complex, Can Change Character of a Community

Before Hurricane Idalia smashed into a small fishing village in northwestern Florida, Charles Long, 68, was fixing up a two-bedroom house for him and his wife. After the August storm, he found remnants of it in a nearby canal and …

Vermont Seeks Federal Damage Assessment for Floods Caused by Hurricane Beryl’s Remnants

Vermont is seeking an assessment to determine whether last week’s flooding, which damaged homes, knocked down bridges and washed out roads, qualifies for a federal disaster declaration and aid. The flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl happened a year …