An insurer is not obligated to defend or indemnify a landscaping company for a catastrophic landslide that occurred at homeowners' properties under a policy exclusion, a federal appeals court ruled Friday in affirming a lower court ruling.

With just two days left in the 2022 Florida legislative session, a comprehensive property insurance reform bill appears to be dead. But lawmakers were said to be looking for ways to fold some of the main provisions into other bills as the clock winds down.

Dr. Ted (Tetsuya) Fujita created a tornado damage scale in 1970 after the Lubbock, Texas tornado. The damage scale was divided into six categories where F0 corresponded with minor damage to houses with estimated winds of 40 - 72 mph (18 â€" 32 m/s) all the way up to F5 where strong frame houses were swept off their foundations in estimated winds of 261 - 318 mph (117 â€" 142 m/s).

It's not clear whether Iowa lawmakers will advance a bill that critics said will make it harder for homeowners to successfully make insurance claims for damage caused by natural disasters like the tornadoes that swept through the state on Saturday.

An EF-4 tornado hit Winterset before continuing on to Norwalk, Pleasant Hill and Newton among other central Iowa communities on Saturday afternoon, the National Weather Service confirmed.

With nearly 1,100 homes evacuated, firefighting crews continue to battle several dangerous wildfires across three counties in the Florida Panhandle, officials said.

Researchers have used artificial intelligence to predict where flood damage is likely to happen in the continental United States. The findings suggest that recent flood maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency do not capture the full extent of flood risk.

The Tampa insurance startup Slide is acquiring $400 million in premiums from St. Johns Insurance Co., adding coverage to an estimated 150,000 policyholders, the company announced Tuesday.

The virtual reality gaming trend is getting real when it comes to homeowner's insurance claims, with insurers saying popular virtual reality headsets are the cause of a 31% surge in claims.

As an insurance crisis persists in California wildfire country, state regulators are preparing to order companies to offer discounts to homeowners who install double-pane windows, fire-safe roofs or take other steps to reduce the danger to properties.

Analysts at CoreLogic, a global provider of property information, analytics, and data-enabled solutions, have released a new report which reveals that over 14.5 million single and multifamily homes were impacted by the largest natural catastrophe events of 2021, with an estimated $56.92 billion in property damage.

Insurance claims resulting from catastrophic weather are at an all-time high. Events such as wildfires, hurricanes, and floods caused 39% of home insurance claims in 2020. In 2021, the trend continued.

A pair of unusual winter wildfires in Southern California on Thursday burned several homes, spurred evacuations and closed a portion of the iconic Pacific Coast Highway. The two fires, one near Los Angeles and the other farther south near Laguna Beach, spread amid fierce winds, along with a continued drought and weather conditions that felt more like summer than winter, furthering fears that fire has become a year-round threat in the state.

Progressive Insurance has announced that it is dropping some 56,000 homeowners' insurance policies in Florida, in response to the surge in litigated claims and costs in the state. Specifically, the insurer is not renewing coverage for homes with roofs older than 15 years.

Oklahoma City firefighters battled a large commercial fire at NW 63 and Western Tuesday night and into Wednesday. OKCFD Chief Benny Fulkerson said the structure was a large under-construction apartment complex.