Skip to main content
Marsh logo

Article

10 Years After Hurricane Katrina: Lessons in Risk Management and Resiliency

We review changes in property insurance claims, analytics, risk engineering, and crisis management since the largest insured loss event in history.

08/02/2015 · 1 minute read

Lessons from Hurricane Katrina can inform how you protect your people, property, and profits.

The last week of August 2015 marks the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the costliest storm ever to make US landfall. The fallout from Katrina led to significant changes within the insurance and risk management industry.

“10 Years After Hurricane Katrina: Lessons in Preparedness, Response, and Resiliency” reviews what Katrina meant at the time and how its lessons can be used to protect your operations, your bottom line, your people, and your future.  It covers a range of changes to the practice of risk management, including:

  • The rise in catastrophe modeling among insureds and its role in successful negotiations with carriers.
  • The use of non-traditional capital, including side-cars, insurance-linked securities, and alternative capital.
  • The importance of policy wording and understanding scope of coverage.
  • Common claim issues.
  • The importance of business continuity and crisis management.

Changes over the past 10 years in property insurance, claims, analytics, risk engineering, and crisis management were all influenced by Hurricanes Katrina and Ike, Superstorm Sandy, and other events, in the US and globally. The lessons learned are cumulative, a reminder that the risk and insurance industry is constantly evolving as new challenges emerge. Individual insureds can use such lessons as they prepare to respond to catastrophes and increase their organization’s resilience.

10 Years After Hurricane Katrina: Lessons in Preparedness, Response and Resilience

Related insights

Flood water - Sandbags for flood defense

Article

Preparing for contingent time element claims after highly disruptive storms

10/15/2024
Palm trees blowing in the wind and rain as a hurricane approaches a tropical island coastline

Article

Managing multiple storm claims

10/08/2024
Aftermath of a flood inside a factory, water damaged machinery. Generative AI

Article

Recovering from a hurricane: 7 steps to ensure business continuity

06/09/2024
Placeholder Image

Podcast

Risk in Context Podcast: Developing a pathway to managing natural catastrophe risks

05/14/2024
View more