Your CASTLE

 Insurance Can Be Interesting
   This illustration attracted my attention even though it is alarming and would be even more so if I could have also grabbed Wisconsin, which appears below Washington above. The main point from this major article is that it is now not uncommon for insurers to refuse to insure your home or drop you after they read the latest weather forecast. If you do not have a home, you now have a good excuse in that you cannot buy one if you can't insure it. Such dire news coming from me is likely not to be believed, so here is the source: "As Insurers Around the U. S.Bleed Cash From Climate Shocks, Homeowners Lose," Christopher Flavelle, et al., New York Times. Some of the points made:

   The insurance turmoil caused by climate change — which had been concentrated in Florida, California and Louisiana — is fast becoming a contagion, spreading to states like Iowa, Arkansas, Ohio, Utah and Washington. Even in the Northeast, where homeowners insurance was still generally profitable last year, the trends are worsening....
  In 2023, insurers lost money on homeowners coverage in 18 states, more than a third of the country, according to a New York Times analysis of newly available financial data. That’s up from 12 states five years ago, and eight states in 2013. The result is that insurance companies are raising premiums by as much as 50 percent or more, cutting back on coverage or leaving entire states altogether. Nationally, over the last decade, insurers paid out more in claims than they received in premiums, according to the ratings firm Moody’s, and those losses are increasing.    
   The growing tumult is affecting people whose homes have never been damaged and who have dutifully paid their premiums, year after year. Cancellation notices have left them scrambling to find coverage to protect what is often their single biggest investment. As a last resort, many are ending up in high-risk insurance pools created by states that are backed by the public and offer less coverage than standard policies. By and large, state regulators lack strategies to restore stability to the market....
 Even the insurance companies are having trouble getting coverage. Reinsurance companies, global giants like Swiss Re, insure the insurers, sharing some of the risk of the policies they write. As disasters worsen, reinsurers have become more reluctant to underwrite insurance in parts of the United States. That’s made insurance companies even more conservative about where to do business....
 “I believe we’re marching toward an uninsurable future” in many places, said Dave Jones, the former insurance commissioner of California and now director of the Climate Risk Initiative at the University of California Berkeley law school.

  The author did not have second thoughts since he published the next day, this article: "4 Takeaways From Our Homeowners Insurance Investigation: Across the Country, More Intense Heat, Storms and Fires Are Causing the Home Insurance Market to Start to Buckle," Christopher Flavelle, NYT, May 14, 2024. In condensed form, here they are:
1. Climate change is upending the insurance market.

2. Insurers are pulling back coverage in surprising places.

3. The consequences of that pullback could affect the broader economy.

4. States are intervening in different ways.

   If H5N1 hits, life insurance could be next. 

CANCON - I will just say, "Coming Soon to an Area Near You." 
The Bonus: This news has not reached Florida as you can see from these new headlines: "Ron DeSantis Signs Bill Scrubbing 'Climate Change' From Florida State Laws," and "DeSantis Signs Law Deleting Climate Change From Florida Policy."

Notes From the Coast

   The contents of this blog are rather stale and the reason for this is that the blogger is on a trip to the West Coast. Given that only subjects of immense significance are covered here, and personal matters not at all, postings were on hold until I had time to approach a topic of importance. It just so happens that the trip provides one in the form of an 'Atmospheric River' or "Pineapple Express'.  

   We arrived at the Abbotsford Airport on Sunday, Nov.14th and drove west toward Vancouver in heavy rain. Which continued. There are now a lot of 'coasts' in British Columbia and not just the one bordering the Pacific.  If you were to arrive at the Abbotsford Airport today, you would find that the runway is open, but just about everything else is submerged. You can still make it to Vancouver, but heading east is problematic. Here is an illustration, accompanied by some headlines. 

"Abbotsford mayor says catastrophic flood danger averted for now, as water levels drop"

"Thousands remain out of their homes in B.C. after devastating, destructive floods"

"B.C. residents urged not to panic-buy as bare shelves fuel food security angst"

"Military set to arrive today after province declares state of emergency"

"It could take weeks to begin repairing 'unprecedented' damage to B.C.'s highway system, experts say."

   By now, most Canadians will be aware of all of this and even some in the United States. A headline in The Guardian today is "Canada Storm: Floods Could Lead to Country-wide Shortages as Air Force Deployed to British Columbia." So, I need not go on.  But, having provided you with only a rather meagre post, I will change the featured one to the right. Perhaps you haven't read it and it is of more interest. 

The Bonus: 
  My readers usually expect one and I generally provide a gem, or at least a nugget of information. I am travelling and visiting family, however, and was not planning on blogging. So here is the best I can offer today - "Eating a Hot Dog Could Take 36 minutes off Your Life, Study Says, " . The study is found in the journal Nature Food, and was reported on CTV News.  If this is true, then Joey Chestnut can't be feeling well. He has often consumed from 60 to 70 hot dogs in just a few minutes while competing in "Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest."