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Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that condominiums in Florida are“ kind of a dime a dozen, particularly in southern Florida,” but he would not commit to any state action to address concerns about the aging buildings, suggesting that Champlain Towers South“ had problems from the start.”. Speaking after a briefing on Tropical Storm Elsa at the state Emergency Operations…

On the forecast track, Elsa will move over Georgia Wednesday evening, over South Carolina early Thursday, over North Carolina later on Thursday, and move near or over the mid- Atlantic coast on Friday. A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Pender, New Hanover, and Brunswick County and the coastal marine waters from Surf City to Little River Inlet.

Roy Cooper and state emergency management officials are monitoring the forecast track and potential impacts from Tropical Storm Elsa and advising residents in eastern and central North Carolina to be prepared for significant rains and possible flooding, according to a press release from the governor's office. “Residents and visitors to North Carolina…

—In the past few weeks, ransomware criminals claimed as trophies at least three North American insurance brokerages that offer policies to help others survive the very network-paralyzing, data-pilfering extortion attacks they themselves apparently suffered. Cybercriminals who hack into corporate and government networks to steal sensitive data for…

WASHINGTON, July 3– The American Property Casualty Insurance Association issued the following news release on July 2, 2021:. The American Property Casualty Insurance Association today announced its Principles of Good Insurance Regulation, which were adopted by its Board of Directors this week. “APCIA is committed to fostering a state-based insurance…

United Insurance Holdings Corp., a property and casualty insurance holding company, today announced estimated current year catastrophe losses incurred during the second quarter ending June 30, 2021, of approximately $40 million before income taxes, net of expected reinsurance recoveries. Founded in 1999, UPC Insurance is an insurance holding company…

Jun. 29— As the ravages of climate change are making new headlines in the record breaking heat wave in the Northwest, California continues to grapple with our own climate-fueled disaster: wildfires and how to prevent them. Last year, acknowledging a documented need for more prescribed burns, California fire agencies and the U.S. Forest Service agreed on a plan to…

Jun. 28— Gusty winds and periods of heavy rain are expected this afternoon and tonight as a tropical system moves into The T&D Region. A tropical system off the South Carolina coast is forecast to strengthen into Tropical Storm Danny before making landfall along the central and southern South Carolina coast, according to the National Weather Service.

–Morgan& Morgan and Saltz, Mongeluzzi& Bendesky are investigating and exploring potential legal action regarding last week’s collapse of a highrise condo building in Surfside, Florida. Officials said 55 of the 136 apartments in Champlain Towers South Condos on Collins Avenue collapsed early Thursday morning. The firms have also litigated the FIU bridge…

Red Cross: A customer service center at Ranch View Elementary School, 1651 Ranchview Drive, is open every night until 8 p.m. to provide information and cleaning kits. Good Shepherd Church: The 1310 Shepherd Drive church in Naperville is taking information from those in need of assistance or those interested in volunteering to help at…

–American travelers are flocking to the Caribbean like never before due to ongoing border closures. Caribbean countries comprise 8 of the top 10 summer travel destinations, according to travel insurance comparison site, Squaremouth.com. Turks and Caicos is the fastest-growing Caribbean destination, with a 2000% increase in travelers since 2019 US…

The sharp policy growth, just as hurricane season gets underway, increases the risk that Citizens’ $6.4 billion surplus won’ t be able to cover all claims if a catastrophe strikes South Florida or other populated areas of the state. “The market is upside down,” said Ryan Papy, president of the Palmetto- based agency Keyes Insurance.“ We are writing hundreds of Citizens…

A Deltona resident will receive $250,000 from settling a lawsuit with the city, nearly three years after raw sewage flooded the house in District 4. The City Commission unanimously approved the settlement agreement Monday night, about a business week after a judge filed an order directing the city to move forward with the agreement or face being held in…

Jun. 21— Kimberly Weigand said she was visiting a neighbor at the Forest Oaks Mobile Home Park in Liberty Township when shortly before 1 a.m. Monday they heard high winds and a crash. Affected communities in Northwest Indiana included Cedar Lake, Chesterton, Crown Point, Dyer, Gary, Griffith, Hammond, Hobart, LaPorte, Merrillville, Michigan City, Munster, Portage, St….

“Climate change and sprawl in the wildland urban interface are driving up both the economic and human cost of wildfires in California,” the authors explain. California already imposes strict growth limits, which lessen the amount of developable land. The result is California has the highest housing prices in the nation and faces vast shortages and a growing…

–Georgia Power crews are responding to scattered outages this morning as a result of heavy rain and gusty winds overnight associated with the remnants of Tropical Storm Claudette. Approximately 5,000 customers are currently without power as the weather system continues to move east across central and north Georgia. Severe weather can happen anytime…

Jun. 19— A new study of federal weather data shows tornado activity in Tennessee and Georgia has increased by almost 36% in the past decade compared to activity from 2000-2009.. “We looked at the number of tornadoes in both Georgia and Tennessee over a 20- year period,” company spokesperson Nathan Barber said, relating the national study to the Chattanooga region.

Jun. 3— The federal government began accepting disaster recovery claims Thursday for residents and business owners who suffered property damage following torrential rain that washed across Louisiana last month. President Joe Biden approved the state's request for federal support late Wednesday in response to a mid-May deluge that impacted nearly 3,000…

—Officials from California, New York and other states urged the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday to allow California to set its own automobile tailpipe pollution standards, an action that would reverse a Trump administration policy and could help usher in stricter emissions standards for new passenger vehicles nationwide.

SafeAuto, one of the largest players in the so-called nonstandard auto insurance market, will be folded into Allstate subsidiary National General Holdings. Northbrook- based Allstate acquired National General, formerly known as GMAC Insurance, for $4 billion in early January. Founded in 1993, Columbus, Ohio- based SafeAuto provides state-minimum auto…

–SafeAuto has agreed to be acquired by The Allstate Corporation through Allstate subsidiary National General. SafeAuto will add capabilities and distribution with its 24 hour, 7 days a week customer contact centers at 1-800- SafeAuto and its website. Ari Deshe, Co-Founder and Chairman of SafeAuto said, “I am confident that combining forces with National…

—Residents of the East Aldine neighborhood of Houston are tired of their homes flooding during hurricanes and of worrying every time it rains because their streets and waterways don't drain well. Like the rest of the Houston area, East Aldine was hammered in 2017 by Hurricane Harvey, which caused an estimated $125 billion in damage throughout the state but…

The U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management have thinned by hand, machines and prescribed burns about 1.8 million acres of forest and brushland since last season, officials from the agencies told The Associated Press. The federal government owns roughly 640 million acres in the U.S. All but 4% of it lies in the West, including Alaska, with some of it…

Anderson, Fayette, Jessamine, Laurel, Madison, Warren and Woodford counties were added to the disaster declaration, and residents in those counties are now able to apply for assistance. Households in Boyd, Clark, Franklin, Greenup, Jackson, Knott, Lawrence, Leslie, Letcher, Lincoln, Morgan, Owsley, Perry, Pulaski and Rockcastle counties also are now eligible for…

May 27— It's not every day that a mayor of a medium-sized city in Louisiana hears the words, “Hold for the President.” But that happened to Nic Hunter, mayor of Lake Charles, where President Joe Biden had visited to call for investment in both hurricane recovery and long-term infrastructure investment. Louisiana's delegation in Congress is working to see Biden's…

A PG&E representative told the council that residents who want to report an outage or who have questions about service can call the utility and file a “ticket,” the term that the utility uses for logging a problem or complaint, for PG&E to follow up on. The issue came up during a special council meeting on wildfires, when Councilwoman Gina Dawson noted that faulty…

May 27— An Indiana woman has been awarded an out-of-court settlement of $1 million following a May 2019 crash in Olympia Fields stemming from a road rage incident that has left her “deathly afraid” of being in a vehicle, her attorney said Wednesday. Melanie Pryor, 59, of Schererville, has not physically been able to drive since the crash due to injuries she suffered,…

NOAA predicts a 60% chance of an above-normal season, a 30% chance of a “near-normal” season and unfortunately, only a 10% chance of a season that is below normal. “In summary, conditions as of now favor another season of above-normal activity, but unlikely to reach last year's level of record activity,” NOAA's Meteorologist Tony Hurt told the Highlands News-Sun.

“It's very important for everyone to fill out the online Damage Assessment Survey,” said city-parish spokesman Mark Armstrong. Some 13 inches of rain fell in parts of Baton Rouge overnight. There, they'll find a link to the statewide Disaster Damage Self-Report Survey, located at damage.la.gov.

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island, May 21– The American Property Casualty Insurance Association issued the following news release on May 20, 2021:. “House 6324 would effectively allow the autobody industry to use whatever part invoicing system they want, including several known to be open to potential manipulation, and an insurer would be required to pay without…

Lake Charles once again took the brunt of nature’ s fury in a coastal zone still recovering from back-to-back hurricanes last fall and a deep freeze in February. The National Weather Service said south Lake Charles in western Louisiana saw 12 to 15 inches of rain in a 12- hour period Monday, while elsewhere in the parish as much as 10 inches fell.

The riverbank is eroding just around the bend from Chimney Park, where contractors could be seen Monday working at a furious pace to reconstruct concrete levee wall that had been torn apart for border wall construction under the Trump administration- construction that was subsequently halted by presidential proclamation Jan. 20. Treviño Wright has long…

May 17— SOCASTEE, Osprey Marina— Aboard the Coastal Explorer— a research boat owned and operated by Coastal Carolina University— researchers launched a torpedo-shaped sonar device into the Intracoastal Waterway Monday. Across from the Osprey Marina in Socastee, a team of three state National Guardsmen dove into the Waterway to attach water-quality…

May 14— OELWEIN— The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled against an Oelwein restaurant that was destroyed in a fire in a dispute with its insurance company. A kitchen fire gutted Luigi's Restaurant and Lounge on Frederick Avenue in November 2016, resulting in a total loss. United Fire appealed the verdict, and in a ruling handed down Friday, the Iowa Supreme Court sided…

May 9— Many property owners across coastal Beaufort County may see their flood insurance rates decrease this year with the release of new flood maps. Local governments across the nation, including in Beaufort County, updated their Federal Emergency Management Agency flood maps this year to better reflect current flooding conditions in the area.

County property owners are being sent a postcard notifying them if their rates are expected to change, FEMA wrote in a statement. To prove that, FEMA said, residents must provide data supporting their claims. The new pricing model, termed “Risk Rating 2.0,” should make premiums more equitable nationwide, FEMA said.

May 7— THOMASVILLE— Police have charged a Thomasville man with arson in a house fire last month that authorities say stemmed from insurance fraud. Donnie Allen Harmon, 33, of Thomasville was arrested Thursday, the Thomasville Police Department said. When Thomasville Fire Department crews arrived at 101 Veach Court on April 11, the house was fully engulfed in…

ROCKLAND— Rockland residents resoundingly rejected new federal flood maps and a proposed mixed-use zoning overlay district during town meeting amid a lack of trust in town officials and false claims about development. Monday's town meeting flew through the four articles on the special town meeting including a $68.7 million operating budget, a special…

May 4— BLUM— Curtis Haley was pacing around the barn, pulling down shades over windows in anticipation of the impending storm, when he saw the dark, spiraling funnel cloud headed his way. He set his half-full bottle of Dos Equis down on the bar, used by guests during wedding receptions held inside the picturesque structure of wood and metal, which has large sliding…

May 2— PAHOA, Hawaii island— Three years after magma from Kilauea Volcano burst through the ground in Leilani Estates, signaling the start of the historic 2018 eruption, the sights, smells and sounds of the disaster are still vivid to those most impacted by it. Standing outside his former home on Moku Street, Howard Konanui, 66, recalled rushing to his back patio…

Rebecca Bean, owner of STASH on Main Street, said she arrived at her store to find six broken windows. In an AccuWeather report, senior vice president and chief meteorologist Jonathan Porter said while tornadoes garner more news coverage, hailstorms produce the most damage resulting in insurance claims when compared with any other type of severe storm.

–When engulfed in the thrill of purchasing a first home, some buyers confess to confusion on an important element of the transaction: home insurance. To help first-time buyers understand their options, Insurance.com releases a robust guide to buying home insurance for the first time. Insurance experts surveyed 997 homeowners in March 2021 to learn which home…

The American Property Casualty Insurance Association issued the following statement:. The American Property Casualty Insurance Association issued the following statement in response to Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler's press release reminding insurers of the May 6, 2021 deadline to file new rating plans to comply with his emergency…