Topic
Catastrophes
FEMA launches flood insurance call centre pilot program
June 16, 2015 by Canadian UnderwriterThe Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the United States said on Monday that they have opened the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) call centre pilot program for policyholders and disaster survivors nationwide. The call centre is reachable at 1-800-621-3362…
Allstate rolls out state-of-the-art hail mobile centre to assist Colorado auto customers
June 16, 2015 by Canadian UnderwriterAllstate Insurance announced last week that it is employing its new mobile drive-in inspection centre to respond to auto customers hit hard by the hailstorm earlier this month in the Denver area. The mobile assessment centre (MAC) is its latest…
Geocoding precision key to accurately estimating potential flood losses
June 14, 2015 Angela Stelmakowich, EditorPrecision of insurer location is critically important when it comes to modelling flood risk and estimating potential losses should such an event occur, attendees were told Friday during the Toronto installment of the Aon Benfield Catastrophe Analytics Roadshow. Detailed information,…
Fire crews continue to fight wildfire near Lytton, British Columbia
June 12, 2015 by Canadian UnderwriterFire crews in British Columbia continued to battle an aggressive blaze on the west side of the Fraser River, south of the village of Lytton, late Thursday night. The fire, which is described as “very visible from the town of…
U.S. storms result in more than 9,000 claims for Farmers Insurance; nearly 15,000 expected
June 12, 2015 by Canadian UnderwriterStorms moving through multiple states, including Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas, at the end of May have already resulted in more than 9,000 insurance claims, Farmers Insurance said in a press release on Thursday. The Farmers Insurance Group of Canada…
Cenovus Energy returns to normal operations following precautionary shut down due to wildfire
June 11, 2015 by Canadian UnderwriterCenovus Energy Inc., a Calgary-based oil company, said on Thursday that it has returned to normal operations at its Foster Creek oilsands project in northern Alberta after a forest fire on the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range (CLAWR) led to…
B.C. prohibits certain open fires in a bid to help prevent wildfires
June 11, 2015 by Canadian UnderwriterBritish Columbia’s Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations said on Wednesday that all Category 2 and Category 3 open fires will be prohibited throughout the Coastal Fire Centre’s (CFC) jurisdiction, with the exception of the so-called “fog zone.”…
More than two million homes in California “at high or extreme risk of wildfire:” Verisk Analytics
June 11, 2015 by Canadian UnderwriterAbout 4.5 million homes in the United States are at high or extreme risk of wildfire, with just over two million in California alone, according to a series of reports released on Wednesday. The 2015 FireLine State Risk Reports from…
Rural Maple Ridge, B.C. homeowners may qualify for lower fire insurance rates
June 10, 2015 by Canadian UnderwriterThe City of Maple Ridge, British Columbia has said that some homeowners in rural areas may be eligible for a discount on their fire insurance premiums. Maple Ridge Fire Chief Dane Spence said in a press release on Friday that…
Guarantee Company of North America app allows users to access weather alerts, make claims
June 10, 2015 by Canadian UnderwriterThe Guarantee Company of North America has announced the availability of a free app that provides client and brokers of GUARANTEE GOLD – which focuses on high net worth customers – with a secure way to receive weather alerts, make…
Senate committee wraps up hearings on bill imposing absolute liability for pipeline operators
June 10, 2015 by Canadian UnderwriterA federal bill proposing to impose absolute liability for “unintended or uncontrolled releases” of oil and gas from pipelines regulated by the National Energy Board is ready for third reading in the Senate. Bill C-46, the Pipeline Safety Act, passed…
Guy Carpenter launches financial institutions, cyber components of casualty catastrophe modelling platform
June 9, 2015 by Canadian UnderwriterGuy Carpenter & Company, LLC has launched new components of its stochastic modelling platform designed to address the liability-based catastrophe risks of cyber/data breaches and financial crisis-type risks. The new components of the GC ForCasSM casualty catastrophe modelling platform are…