Disaster planning

With the uncertain status of the federal disaster response agency and NOAA climate and weather forecasting and research, NAIC hears about how disaster relief could depend on volunteer organizations, and difficulty getting storm and climate predictions.

Bankers are putting pre-established action plans for disaster recovery into motion as wildfires in Los Angeles sweep across the region.

Recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene are currently underway, but with the incoming Hurricane Milton set to undo any progress made, insurers are waiting and watching to measure the true toll.

In this compilation of top matters affecting the insurance landscape, Nationwide and other insurance agencies further explore artificial intelligence, and experts offer tips on preparing for hurricane season and more.

A multipronged effort should include documenting damage, hiring licensed and bonded contractors, and organizing client contact information.

Claims from a more recent storm that caused some overlapping property damage are also mounting, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Wind and storm surge damage to residential and commercial properties could reach $47 billion, according to a CoreLogic analysis.

The total losses and physical damages were estimated to cost $343 billion, well below the peak loss year in 2011 of $615 billion, however the 2021 losses, compared to 2011-2020 were about 4% higher than the average of $271 billion, according to the 2021 Weather, Climate and Catastrophe Insight report.

Breakthroughs in AI over the past decade mean we can now use it to train computer vision algorithms to perform visual tasks as accurately or more than humans. Smartphones can be turned into visual experts in your pocket, which can appraise some aspects of the environment better than people.

Deanne Criswell, the first woman to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in April took over a 20,000-person operation exhausted by managing responses to disasters linked to global warming: wildfires and the 2020 hurricane season, the most active on record.