Polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) materials are everywhere — and they could be the next big threat to property claims exposure, warned one expert.

Rita Alton has an unusual morning routine these days: Wake up. Get dressed. Go outside to see if her house is closer to tumbling down an 80-foot cliff into Lake Michigan.

Floodwaters in Oregon are receding on Monday after relentless rain and melting snow led to dozens of rescues over the weekend from weather that killed one woman who was swept away in raging waters.

Hail is a major driver of insured property damage in Canada, but testing resilience of roofing material by dropping steel balls on it has limited value, a CatIQ Connect speaker suggested Wednesday. Roy Wright, president and CEO of the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety, described how the industry tends to test roofing materials.

When the ground shakes in Puerto Rico and it is time to head for higher ground, the people in the northwestern coastal city of Aguadilla find out the old way: the shrill of whistles. Aguadilla is one of two dozen cities on the island that do not have emergency alert sirens, even as hundreds of earthquakes have rattled Puerto Rico for weeks.

Nearly 150,000 homes and businesses in the southeastern United States were without power early Friday after a powerful storm raked the region. At least five people were killed.

The National Weather Service said reports of extensive damage from a possible tornado touchdown in Sparatnburg were reported Thursday morning. The storm left behind a trail of damage, spanning miles along US Highway 29.

The sound of explosions and breaking glass accompanied the sight of bright orange flames and swirling smoke engulfing the CarQuest Auto Parts shop in Chowchilla. Firefighters from the City, Madera County, and the nearby Central California Women’s Facility rushed to the scene around 3 a.m. Wednesday and found the burning building secured with no one inside.

Parts of Western Washington are covered in water, forcing families from their homes. The city of Sumas is flooded after the Nooksack River overflowed its banks overnight. Only once before this century has the entire city of Sumas been covered in water.

Strong winds ripped through much of the Inland Northwest on Saturday morning and Post Falls, Idaho, appears to be one of the areas that has been hit the hardest. Power outages have been reported throughout post falls due to fallen trees. The damage has escalated and trees are now falling on homes and breaking roofs.

The ongoing outbreak of bushfires in Australia are now said to be the costliest example from an insurance and reinsurance market loss perspective, as the latest data shows losses reached A$1.65 billion (US $1.13bn).

At least eight people were killed early Monday in an explosive fire that consumed dozens of vessels docked at a marina along the Tennessee River in northern Alabama.

A public adjuster in Delaware County has been charged with insurance fraud and related offenses for allegedly stealing $722,000 from a manufacturer in the Bridesburg section of Philadelphia.

A massive explosion at a machine shop ripped through a Houston neighborhood early Friday morning, and police said at least two people were killed and several injured while homes were damaged by the explosion that sent out blast waves detected for miles.

Firefighters in the western United States face a shared struggle with others around the world who battle wildfires as the “seasons” for these events seem to grow longer and more destructive every year. Climate change and human encroachment on wildlands—driven by property development and agriculture—have fostered conditions that increase fire risk in disparate regions, from California, to Australia, to the Amazon rainforest, to Siberia.