Stormy Weather 2011 - Special Report

Homeowner insurance costs and coverage vary widely state to state, forcing many consumers to navigate multiple policies and pay multiple premiums to cover one home. 

Private-sector meteorologists are selling customized weather data to a myriad of enterprises — from agriculture to construction to transportation .

To what degree a catastrophic event might be caused by climate change is impossible to measure at this stage, so global warming isn’t being directly priced into insurance premiums.

Companies like ServiceMaster,  ServPro, Disaster Kleenup International and the Signature Group are ready to mobilize workers by the hundreds to respond to catastrophe for days and weeks on end.

New pipelines and high storage levels will combine to prevent a repeat of 2005 when hurricanes Katrina and Rita interrupted supply and prices spiked.

This year has already been a record one for storm damage, with more severe weather of all kinds.

A not-so-small cottage industry is now built around disaster preparation. While it never hurts to be prepared, say experts, how much of this industry is actually playing into people’s fears?

With the ever-growing encroachment of people into formerly rural, wildfire-prone areas you have the recipe for disaster — and a potential opportunity for businesses with products designed to help homeowners cope with the fires.

Wildfires that burn more than 100,000 acres—an even considered rare 30 years ago—are now the rule rather than the exception, according to a 2008 paper by the National Center for Policy analysis.

Six years after Hurricane Katrina and countless subsequent disasters many are still questioning the effectiveness of  the Federal Emergency Management Agency . 

Insurers call windstorm coverage — including  hurricanes, tornadoes, and hail — the  "market of last resort,"  which comes with its own special rates applied to areas most prone to disaster.

Worries about inflation and slowing economic growth make the once-hot group unattractive.

Rising life expectancies coupled with escalating health-care costs will force the baby boom generation to rethink the conventional retirement wisdom of cashing in stocks for bonds.

The eye of Irene made its way over the New York City Sunday, rolling directly over the borough of Queens, and though the storm unleashed intense rains and heavy winds on the city, it was downgraded to a tropical storm from a hurricane.