Karen Clark releases US storm surge model
Independent catastrophe risk management firm Karen Clark & Company (KCC) has released a high resolution storm surge model for the US.
According to KCC, the model has several important advantages over other available models because it is part of the RiskInsight open loss modelling platform, making the model components fully transparent.
“This means clients can see all of the high resolution footprints and easily identify locations vulnerable to storm surge flooding. Insurers can calculate the amount of TIV they have exposed by water depth and apply detailed vulnerability curves to estimate losses,” said KCC.
Along with enabling insurers to estimate their losses from storm surge, the model produces the 100 and 250 year flood zones along the coast. Via a KCC or client-hosted web service, the locations of individual policies can be tested to see if they're in or out of the flood zones before the policies are written.
The RiskInsight model will be presented to the Florida Commission on Hurricane Loss Projection Methodology later this month.
"We're very pleased to release this new model so our clients can capitalise on opportunities for writing flood insurance in Florida and elsewhere," said Karen Clark, chief executive officer, KCC. "Because of the transparency RiskInsight provides, our clients can have confidence in their underwriting and portfolio decisions for this highly localised peril."
Glen Daraskevich, senior vice president, KCC, added: "We've spent years developing the storm surge capabilities in RiskInsight, but what’s more important to our clients is that we’ve spent the past several months reviewing and validating every storm surge footprint in the model.
“This exhaustive validation process means our clients can be sure they won't get anomalous numbers when they start using the model output. Because we let our clients see all of the components they gain further confidence in the model and in their risk management decisions, along with significant competitive advantage over companies using the more traditional ‘black box’ models."
