Catastrophe & Restoration

As water from the swollen Mississippi River poured over a century-old levee Thursday, officials downstream with the Port of New Orleans said the Coast Guard could close the river to ships as early as Monday, halting traffic on one of the world's busiest commercial waterways.

Allstate Corp. says it expects $1.4 billion in losses for the month of April after severe weather battered much of the South, generating more than 100,000 claims.

A 5.3 magnitude earthquake has struck Spain about 218 miles south-southeast of Madrid, causing several deaths and toppling buildings, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

FEMA is asking thousands of Americans who were victims of natural disasters to return more than $22 million in government aid, acknowledging it mistakenly made payments to many people who were ineligible.

A property and casualty industry official says he hopes the recent heavy Mississippi River flooding will reinforce the need for prompt congressional action for a long-term National Flood Insurance Program extension.

Catastrophe risk modeler EQECAT has dramatically changed its estimate of insured losses from the Tohoku, Japan earthquake to between $22 billion and $39 billion.