The Federal Emergency Management Agency's flood maps have become outdated as they "are really focused on riverine flooding and coastal flooding" and do not account for excessive rainfall totals driven by climate change, FEMA director Deanne Criswell said. "We have to start thinking about what the threats are going to be in the future as a result of climate change," Criswell said in remarks that came as Jackson, Miss., faces a water crisis caused by flooding.

Inflation, climate change, the war in Ukraine and challenges in capital markets are likely to contribute to further reinsurance premium increases in the coming few months, rating firm analysts say. S&P Global's Ali Karakuyu said the percentage of overall rate increases could be in the mid-single digits on average, while a Moody's survey found reinsurance buyers expecting "high-single to low-double" digit increases for property rates in the US and Caribbean.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's hurricane hunters typically fly into storms in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, but they took an expedition last month that was their first one across the Atlantic. The team traveled to gather data on a potential storm near the Cape Verde Islands, along Africa's western coast, in an effort to make earlier determinations of whether disturbances are likely to become tropical cyclones.

The US property casualty industry posted a net underwriting loss of $6.3 billion in the first six months of 2022, according to an A.M. Best report. "The personal lines segment, specifically the auto lines of business, were responsible for the decline in underwriting results," and the overall P/C combined ratio deteriorated to 100% from 97% a year earlier, A.M. Best says.

The National Labor Relations Board has proposed a rule that would count an employer as a company that controls, "whether directly, indirectly or both," the work requirements, wages and hiring of a worker. That could make it easier for workers to pursue claims against companies that have franchisees or rely on contractors.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation is evaluating whether to waive state-backed Citizens Property Insurance's replacement-cost coverage limit of $700,000 in counties deemed as lacking "a reasonable degree of competition." That limit is in place in all counties except Miami-Dade and Monroe, where the cap is $1 million, and critics say allowing further increases could increase Citizens' exposure and hinder its efforts to decrease its policy count, which has exceeded 1 million.

The best leaders are those who people respect and have the ability to deliver and receive critical feedback, says Niek Jan van Damme, a veteran business leader and board director. "You have to be very good at developing your team and getting the best from them, and you have to hire people who are potentially better than you," van Damme says.

California residents often have little time to respond to wildfires fueled by heat and drought, and data shows seven of the deadliest fires have occurred since 2017. "What we've seen almost over the last 10 years now is a huge change in the ways fires have been burning throughout California," says Jon Heggie of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

A wildfire in Riverside County, Calif., has left at least two people dead and has destroyed or damaged structures near Hemet, officials say. Additionally, two people have died in the Mill Fire, which has swept through Weed, Calif., near the Oregon border.

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