The Risks of Hazard

Summer is here, and in the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada, it really feels like it. Record highs are being set all over the region, the Calgary Zoo is closed so the animals can be cooled, and the wildfires are burning.

The most newsworthy wildfire so far is the Sleepy Hollow wildfire in Wenatchee, WA. It's burning homes and industrial buildings, and as of today is only 10% contained. It will get bigger before it gets smaller.

Today is a big day for Intermap and for InsitePro — we are releasing FloodScope™ USA, the only flood model available that is built on a contiguous, manually-edited digital terrain model (DTM) for the lower 48 states and Hawaii.

As I've discussed before, elevation data is a key input into any flood model, so the ability to leverage a high quality DTM at full resolution is a significant achievement. Starting today, insurers can use flood zone determinations as a part of their analytics to better understand the risk of river flooding.

One of the most devastating forms of flood risk is coastal storm surge. The flooding is most intense at the shoreline, but surge flooding can affect locations 40 miles (65 km) from the coast. The amount of storm surge is dependent upon the size of the storm creating the surge, and the tide at the time of the surge. As building codes have improved, most damage caused by hurricanes is now due to the flooding associated with them — not wind damage. Some of the most devastating and expensive natural disasters in the USA have been largely due to storm surge, including Sandy and Katrina.

Insurance companies have a long history of expressing themselves through architecture. It sounds strange, but it's true: For more than a century, they have used their buildings to portray their strength and prowess to the financial world (and the public in general). This is especially true in the City of London, where many of the world's insurance powerhouses are headquartered. For a bit of fun, let’s take a look at some noteworthy examples of insurance-related architecture in this fine city. (As the Monty Python boys would say: And now for something completely different....)

Two weeks ago, I wrote a post that explored the May 2015 Houston floods and suggested some lessons that might be offered by the events. This topic attracted a large audience and generated a lot of questions and discussion. In my conclusion, I suggested that carriers might consider creating a flood analytic specifically for this city.

With Tropical Storm Bill currently bearing down on Texas, today I will take a closer look at how a carrier or underwriting group could use Intermap's risk assessment software, InsitePro, to build a new analytic to handle "Houston Flood" as a distinctive peril.