The Risks of Hazard

Do you ever read or watch something and say out loud: “yes”? That was my reaction to this AM Best TV clip from last week. Just a simple, out loud “yes”.

At Intermap Technologies we write about the ever-changing landscape of insurance, government, and natural catastrophe. Because of the pending reauthorization plans for the NFIP (H.R.1423 - National Flood Insurance Program Reauthorization and Improvement Act of 2017) currently working its way through Congress, our most recent blogs have been centered around flood.

This week’s blog features a recent video from AM Best TV, and a podcast from InsNerds.com. First the video.

Cap Radio ran a series of stories in March how the state of California is thinking of pulling out of the NFIP. Not only that – they are thinking about forming their own version of the NFIP for the state. Let’s take a look at this imaginative plan to replace a system that doesn’t work very well with a plan that’s…kinda the same.

The thinking is pretty clear for leaving the NFIP – California has paid more in premiums than they’ve received in claims. In other words, they’re the comparative low risk in the risk pool and they are paying the same rates as everyone else in the country. This makes sense in the same way that there are lower risk properties in A zones to offset higher risk properties – the program needs to balance high risk with lower risk. In yet other words, they are cherry picking the NFIP at the state level. Epic cherry-picking!

New York has a new museum, or at least a new location for an institution. In 2016 the Whitney Museum of American Art moved down to the waterfront at the southern end of the High Line, with the new building (designed by Renzo Piano) widely lauded as a success. While most reviews and articles on the new Whitney focus on the architectural highlights and nuances, such as the design’s openness creating a seamless integration with the vibrant surrounding streets, the Atlantic published an article on its flood defenses. To wit: … the new Whitney’s most intriguing feature might be one that’s gone largely unnoticed: its custom flood-mitigation system, which was designed halfway through the museum’s construction, in the aftermath of 2012’s Hurricane Sandy, when more than five million gallons of water flooded the site.