Risky Business

The four major hurricanes that hit U.S. coasts in 2004 cost insurance companies an unprecedented $23 billion. That record was short-lived. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina alone brought $50 billion in insured losses, and claims are still being filed.Most of the scientific community agrees that recent global warming influenced the severity of these storms, and has led to a host of other ecological problems, like flooding and forest fires. More alarming, the warming trend will probably continue well into the next century.But according to two recent reports, American insurance companies aren’t giving enough consideration to the future effects of global warming.Read more at...Plenty, April 2009.