Hurricane season ends quietly
The News Review:
- Hurricane season ends quietly
- FEMA ordered to resume benefits to hurricane victims agency cut off
- Amlin boosted by low hurricane season
Hurricane season ends quietly
USA Today – Nov 30, 2006
“We got a much-welcome break after a lot of the coast had been compromised in the last several years but this is a one-season type break” said Gerry Bell lead seasonal hurricane forecaster for the National ceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In May scientists predicted 13 to 16 named storms and eight to 10 hurricanes with four to six of them major. The 2005 hurricane season was the busiest on record with 28 named storms including 15 hurricanes four of which hit the United States including Katrina and Rita. Bell urged people not to become complacent about the next season which starts June 1. Forecasters say the Atlantic is still in an active hurricane period that began in 1995 and could last another decade or more. This year a warm-water trend known as El Nino developed more quickly than expected in the Pacific squashing the formation of storms in the Atlantic and creating crosswinds that can rip hurricanes apart. At the same time upper-level air currents pushed most hurricanes out to sea away from the U.
FEMA ordered to resume benefits to hurricane victims agency cut off
San Francisco Chronicle – Nov 30, 2006
“Every time I call back the person answering the call knows nothing about what the previous person told me. ” Under FEMA’s transitional housing program for victims of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita evacuees were entitled to financial assistance either for 18 months or to a maximum of $26200. After Katrina hit on Aug. 29 2005 FEMA began providing victims with short-term housing assistance. In February 2006 it attempted to transfer eligible evacuees to a longer-term assistance program which required recipients to meet certain criteria but denied thousands of their applications according to Leon’s ruling. After a 30-day notice period FEMA cut their short-term benefits as well.
Amlin boosted by low hurricane season
Independent – Nov 30, 2006
9 per cent of premiums. In a statement to the market yesterday morning the group acknowledged that a benign hurricane season and absence of any other major disasters around the world had been behind the strong results. After 2005′s record hurricane season – which saw Hurricane Katrina cause some $50bn of damage as it ravaged New rleans – many insurers upped their capacity for 2006 to take advantage of the increase in premiums. Although meteorologists had predicted another heavy storm season this year none of the biggest hurricanes hit land. Several of Britain’s other insurers are now expected to publish reverse profit warnings over the coming weeks. Charles Philipps Amlin’s chief executive said: “2006 performance to date has exceeded expectations owing to an exceptionally low level of claims in a year when we have increased premiums particularly for catastrophe-exposed business. “Although premium growth has been most rapid in the company’s non-marine division over the past year it also saw more modest rate increases in the aviation and marine markets.