After Barry's brief time as a hurricane on Saturday during landfall on the central Louisiana coast, the hurricane weakened rapidly on Sunday but still remains a formidable inland flood threat. The combination of slow movement and continued flow off the Gulf of Mexico is resulting in widespread inland flooding across Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, western Tennessee and ... Continue Reading »
natural catatastrophe
Barry Upgraded to Hurricane Status While Moving Ashore
According to advisories of the National Hurricane Center (NHC), Tropical Storm Barry was upgraded to hurricane status while moving ashore about 40 miles south of Slidell, Louisiana at 11AM EDT Saturday. The storm has since been downgraded by the NHC to tropical storm status as it continues to move inland. Impacts due to flooding and wind have already been reported in affected ... Continue Reading »
Tropical Storm Barry – Significant Flood Threat Expected
Tropical Storm Barry has shown steady strengthening over recent hours, and now sits about 115 miles south-southeast of Morgan City, Louisiana. The storm is expected to continue on a slow turn to the north over the next 24 hours or so, to move ashore over the central Louisiana coast as a probable hurricane early Saturday. Model guidance has shown somewhat better agreement in ... Continue Reading »
Tropical Storm Barry
The northern Gulf disturbance was upgraded this morning to Tropical Storm Barry, and sits about 90 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi River. The storm is expected to move very slowly to the north and west over the coming days, to move ashore in Louisiana as a hurricane sometime early Saturday. There remains considerable uncertainty on track and especially intensity. ... Continue Reading »
Potential Hurricane Threat – U.S. Northern Gulf
There is an escalating threat for hurricane landfall on the U.S. Northern Gulf Coast over the coming days, from a disturbance now located offshore of the Florida Panhandle. There remains considerable uncertainty in forecast specifics, but landfall on the Louisiana or perhaps the Texas coast appears most probable given current model guidance. The threat of landfall with ... Continue Reading »
Searles Valley Earthquake Sequence: Mw 6.4 and Mw 7.1 Events
Summary A pair of significant earthquakes struck the Searles Valley, California area (Kern County) on July 4 and 5, 2019, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). On July 4, an estimated Mw 6.4 earthquake occurred approximately 11 miles (18km) ENE from Ridgecrest (population approximately 28,000) around 10:33 AM local time. This was followed by a larger Mw 6.9 ... Continue Reading »
Seasonal North Atlantic Hurricane Outlook
Seasonal outlooks generally call for a near-normal hurricane season, relative to the 1981-2010 average. The 2019 season comes after an active 2018 season with 15 named storms, including significant impacts from Hurricanes Florence and Michael. While the traditional hurricane season begins June 1 in the North Atlantic Basin, Subtropical Storm Andrea made a brief appearance ... Continue Reading »
Modeling Insights
Here we review recent GC Capital Ideas posts covering insights on modeling. A Risk Overview of Wildfire: Today, the frequency and severity of wildfires are garnering greater attention - not only from the media, but also from (re)insurers, catastrophe modelers, mitigation experts and other invested parties. Read the article >> Understanding Flood Risk in Malaysia ... Continue Reading »
The Middle East and North Africa Risks Landscape
The results of climate inaction are becoming increasingly clear. The year 2018 was the fourth warmest on record (1). In the MENA region, Algeria had the hottest temperature - 51.3ºC - ever reliably recorded across the whole of Africa, and Oman recorded a minimum temperature of 42.6ºC (2). Rising temperatures led the United Nations to warn that melting ice sheets were causing s ... Continue Reading »
Flood Risk Challenges in Asia
Flood is one of the most significant natural catastrophe perils, globally accounting for nearly 40 percent of all catastrophe events. In 2017, floods accounted for nearly half of the natural catastrophe events and 65 percent of natural catastrophe deaths in the world - two thirds of the deaths occurring in Asia. According to the Lloyd's City Risk Index, which examines flood ... Continue Reading »
