Aon Benfield’s Impact Forecasting has enhanced its US riverine flood model to quantify flood risk at a much higher resolution.
The new enhancements, which will be launched at the 2015 PCI Annual Meeting in Florida, will enable insurers to better understand the peril and apply insights to underwriting decisions and reinsurance purchases through improved data and the latest research.
Inland flooding has accounted for approximately two-thirds of all disaster declarations in the past 50 years with economic costs reaching $34 billion in 1993, according to Aon Benfield.
In 2015, floods affecting Texas, Oklahoma and South Carolina have caused billions of dollars of new damage and losses and have reinforced the need for advanced inland flood risk models.
The new flood model features key enhancements, including three times the length of the modelled river; advanced hydraulic-based modelling; modelling of off-flood plain flash flood risk; a high resolution digital elevation model; and more than 56,000 kilometres of government maintained levee systems and new damage functions for bridges, dams and flood resistant structures.
The model also includes scenarios for the 2015 floods affecting Texas, Oklahoma and South Carolina, the Colorado Frontal Range Flood of 2013, the Lower Mississippi Flood of 2011, the California Central Valley Flood of 1997 and the Midwest Flood of 2008.
Narathip Sutchiewcharn, senior scientist at Impact Forecasting, commented: “With only 35 percent of eligible properties within FEMA designated flood plains having flood insurance, the new model opens doors for insurers to better understand their risk and strategically write new business.”
“Our updated model incorporates improved spatial resolution, detailed river network data and extensive validation to deliver more precise flood risk quantification.”
Kelly Smith, president of Aon Benfield US, added: “The enhanced US flood model plays a critical role as we help insurers and homeowners alike to quantify the risk of flood and prepare for its damaging consequences.”
“The model adds value to our clients by enabling them to set the most appropriate premiums, purchase effective reinsurance and notably gives them the confidence to underwrite more business, supporting homeowners across the US to protect their properties against this hazard.”
