Floodbase, a technology company that creates products to monitor flood patterns, has just released a new data product to more precisely measure the severity of flooding in coastal regions of the US.
The data, collated using machine-learning, comes as climate shifts are leading to floods that are costing homes and businesses 100s of billions of dollars and will be welcomed especially by parametric flood insurance companies.
Most Expensive US Disaster
Flooding is both the most common and the most expensive weather-based disaster that US citizens face.
Flood costs are difficult to estimate with accuracy but a recent Senate report put the cost at between $180 billion and $496 billion each year.
What Is Parametric Insurance?
The new product from Floodbase will improve the accuracy of parametric flood insurance provision as it enables more accurate mapping of the risks of flooding.
Parametric insurance is when insurance payouts are based on the severity of an event occurring, rather than the cost of what has been damaged or lost.
Who Are Floodbase?
Floodbase was founded by two Yale students as they considered the issue of lack of data in climate-vulnerable communities, and worked to create a solution, initially looking at El Salvador and New York State.
Their mission statement is to enable “communities to prepare and respond to climate disasters by reducing the barriers to scientific information and capital”.
Machine-Learning Solution
Floodbase’s flood mapping product works by taking data from a number of sources including stream measurements, hydrological models and satellites.
This data is then combined and analyzed using machine-learning to create a continuous visualization of flooding hazards in a particular region.
Flood Hazard Layer
The data synthesizes to form a ‘flood hazard’ layer, which can be used in software to aid flood responses.
This layer can be overlaid with more traditional geographic data to build up a more accurate picture of the areas most at risk of severe flooding.
For Commercial and State Use Only
The data will be made available to commercial and government customers, who will use it for different means.
Insurance companies may use the data to increase the accuracy of their parametric flood insurance while state customers will likely use it to improve response and recovery during flooding disaster events.
Availability of Product
The product will be available for a limited time period. It will be released on August 1 and run through to November 30.
The data only becomes available following a federal government request to Floodbase.
Delay Before Customer Availability
After a short delay of 1 to 2 days after the federal government request, the data will become available to customers, according to the Floodbase’s Head of Public Sector Partnerships, Emmalina Glinskis.
She says, of the service once available: “This will enable near-real time situational awareness of flood events so that state and local governments, and businesses can respond in a way that minimizes risk and protects vulnerable populations.”
Important for Local Disaster Relief
The data would be welcomed by those involved in local flood relief efforts, who may find it useful to improve targeting of rapid recovery efforts.
Founder and CEO, Bessie Schwarz, stated: “By making this data more broadly available, communities will be better prepared, and better equipped to deploy resources to recover efficiently, and equitably from flood events.”
