Florida Lawmakers Seek Ways to Curb Sinkhole Losses
Florida lawmakers are trying to address the cost of sinkhole claims, which state officials and insurers say are driving up property insurance rates and could threaten the solvency of some domestic...
View ArticleState Farm Florida Seeks 28% Home Insurance Rate Hike
State Farm of Florida is requesting a statewide average 27.7 percent homeowners insurance rate increase citing the rising costs of sinkhole claims. The request comes as Florida lawmakers are trying to...
View ArticleLarge Sinkhole Forms in Intersection in Texas
A 10-foot-deep, 20-foot-wide sinkhole has formed in an intersection in eastern Austin, Texas. Austin Water Utility officials tell the Austin American-Statesman that they expect the 30-foot-long...
View ArticleMercury General to Exit Florida Homeowners Market
Citing fourth quarter losses in Florida of $19 million, Mercury General said it would begin the process of withdrawing from the state’s homeowners insurance market. The company said it will send the...
View ArticleFlorida Senate Committee Postpones Vote on Property Legislation
For the second straight week, the Florida Banking and Insurance Committee failed to reach a final vote on its comprehensive property insurance bill. The delay comes as committee members remain bogged...
View ArticleState Farm Florida Cites Sinkhole Claims in Rate Hike Bid
Citing sinkhole losses and higher operating expenses, State Farm Florida asked state regulators this week for a 28 percent premium increase on its homeowners policies. Sinkhole claims, which are...
View ArticleFlorida’s Top 10 Sinkhole-Prone Counties
It’s no secret that property/casualty insurers have been fielding more and more sinkhole claims in Florida and now online hazard mapping firm CDS Business Mapping and its RiskMeter Online service have...
View ArticleFlorida Lawmakers Advance Plan to Shrink State Insurer Citizens
Florida lawmakers have approved a plan designed to move more property owners into the private insurance market by restricting what properties the state-backed insurer can cover and allowing it to raise...
View ArticleP/C Insurance Industry Wins, Loses in Scott’s First Session
It is axiomatic in Florida that when it comes to the legislature and insurance issues, the power brokers play for the last 72 hours. No matter how many committee meetings, no matter how many press...
View ArticleTexas Brine Blames Tremors for Louisiana Sinkhole
Officials say tremors recorded in Louisiana’s Assumption Parish since late May could be why a brine cavern encased within the Napoleonville salt dome failed and caused a massive sinkhole. Texas Brine...
View ArticleSinkhole Hits Businesses, Home Values in Rural Louisiana
Dennis Landry’s bed and breakfast was in the middle of a record business year before a sinkhole prompted authorities to tell 150 households in the towns of Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou in Louisiana to...
View ArticleFlorida Approves 10.8% Rate Hike for Citizens; Also 21.4% for Sinkholes
Florida regulators have approved a 10.8 percent statewide average homeowners insurance rate increase and a 21.4 percent increase in sinkhole rates for the state-backed property insurer. Insurance...
View ArticleFar Rockaway in NYC’s Queens Borough Copes With Sinkholes After Sandy
Residents in Far Rockaway in New York’s Queens borough are now coping with sinkholes in areas that seemed stable before Superstorm Sandy. The city’s Department of Environmental Protection has...
View ArticleLouisiana Levies More Fines Against Texas Brine over Sinkhole
The Louisiana Office of Conservation has levied an additional $160,000 fine against Texas Brine Co. LLC. over a massive sinkhole. Commissioner James Welsh said the fine levied Dec. 17 is for continued...
View ArticleTexas Brine, Louisiana Agree on Plan to Assess Sinkhole
The Louisiana Office of Conservation has modified orders requiring Texas Brine Co. LLC to assess the status of sediments under an 8.5-acre sinkhole in northern Assumption Parish, prompting the company...
View ArticleMore Sinkhole Problems in Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Two new sinkholes are causing problems in Cape Girardeau, Mo., creating what city leaders call a “very dangerous” situation. The Southeast Missourian reports that the sinkholes are on busy South Sprigg...
View ArticlePossible Sinkhole Reported in Yard in Florida
Residents of several Florida homes have been evacuated due to a possible sinkhole that opened behind a backyard near St. Petersburg. Dunedin Deputy Fire Chief Trip Barrs told Bay News 9 the hole...
View ArticleSinkholes Continue Taking a Toll in Southeast
Solid ground isn’t always a certainty. Sinkholes can lurk anywhere, beneath suburban homes, city streets or even football stadiums and museums. It’s basic geology: Sinkholes open when soil collapses...
View ArticleSinkholes Added as Threat in Louisiana Disaster Plan; Salt Domes to be Mapped
Sinkholes will be recognized as threats in the state’s updated hazard mitigation plan. The Daily Comet reports the state is working on a five-year update to its hazard mitigation plan, which must be in...
View ArticleColorado Judge Approves $7M Award for Homes on Sinking Soil
A Colorado judge has upheld an arbitrator’s award of more than $7 million to 20 homeowners at a golf course subdivision near Glenwood Springs whose properties were constructed on a soil linked to...
View ArticleRecord Western Wildfires a Contrast in Otherwise Quiet Year for U.S. Natural...
It was a relatively quiet year for natural disasters – except for those living in the Western U.S. Property data provider CoreLogic today released its annual Natural Hazard Risk Summary and Analysis....
View ArticleNew Orleans’ Infrastructure Is Crumbling; Will Trump Plan Help?
When a heavy rain hits New Orleans, residents move their cars to higher ground for fear of fast-rising street flooding. Knee-deep potholes can eat a car’s fender. When pressure drops in the city’s...
View ArticlePennsylvania Opens Investigation into Gas Liquids Pipeline
Pennsylvania’s attorney general said Tuesday that his office has opened an investigation into construction on a 350-mile natural gas liquids pipeline project across southern Pennsylvania that has been...
View ArticlePennsylvania Gas Liquids Pipeline Owner Agrees to Safety Study, New Fine
The heavily fined owner of natural gas liquids pipelines across southern Pennsylvania is agreeing to another $200,000 fine and a study on risks to the Mariner East 1 pipeline. Lawyers for a subsidiary...
View ArticleSinkholes Emerge After Croatia’s Deadly Earthquake in December
MECENCANI, Croatia – After the deadly earthquake came the sinkholes. A central Croatian region about 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of the capital, Zagreb, is pocked with round holes of all sizes,...
View ArticleNevada Bill to Aid Minority Owners of Sinking Homes Advances
A measure to put up $30 million in state and city funds won initial backing from Nevada state lawmakers to help homeowners move from a once-segregated North Las Vegas neighborhood where geologic...
View ArticleNew England Braces for Lee After Days of Torrential Rains
Soaked and stunned residents in neighborhoods across Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut have begun surveying and fixing damage from several days of flooding and a reported tornado, while they...
View ArticleFlorida Bad-Faith Suit Survives Even Though Policy Limits Paid and Sinkhole...
Just because an insurer paid the full policy limits on a claim, and argues that the damages weren’t even covered, doesn’t mean it can escape a bad-faith lawsuit. It’s the type of court decision that...
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