Guest author and SpatialKey data partner, JBA Risk Management, explains how flood data and mapping innovations can help insurers succeed in the U.S. private flood insurance market.  

Florida is the most high-risk state for storm surge, with an estimated 2.8 million single family homes at risk and a replacement value of $581 billion, according to the 2019 Private Flood Insurance Report. Yet, in Florida, there are only 1.7 million NFIP policies reported in force, suggesting a huge opportunity for private insurers. 

Guest author and SpatialKey data partner, JBA Risk Management, explains how flood data and mapping innovations can help insurers succeed in the U.S. private flood insurance market. 

Despite more than 200 million people and two-thirds of the contiguous U.S. being at risk from flooding, only an estimated 15 percent of U.S. homeowners have flood insurance policies. As a result, it’s clear there’s a latent opportunity for insurers within the U.S. private flood market. However, without adequate flood data, it’s impossible for carriers to actively engage with the market and confidently underwrite and price flood risk.

Guest author and SpatialKey data partner, JBA Risk Management, explains how flood data and mapping innovations can help insurers succeed in the U.S. private flood insurance market.  

In order for insurers to most effectively understand flood risk, they must have access to data that provides a full picture of the hazard, including the different flood types that might affect a property: fluvial, pluvial, and storm surge. Although it may seem that flood is just flood, it’s important to understand the different flood types due to the various impacts each flood type can have on a property, and thus different levels of damage.

Guest author and SpatialKey data partner, JBA Risk Management, explains how flood data and mapping innovations can help insurers succeed in the U.S. private flood insurance market. 

More than 200 million people and two-thirds of the 48 contiguous states are at risk from flooding, according to Edward Clark, Director of the U.S. National Water Center. This demonstrates the major threat that flooding poses to the reinsurance industry in the U.S. In light of this hazard, the U.S. private insurance market is growing, with 2017 reporting $600 million in premiums, an increase of USD $217 million over 2016. But why isn’t this figure higher? And, why do approximately 85 percent of U.S. homeowners lack flood insurance policies?

Guest author and SpatialKey data partner, JBA Risk Management, explains how flood data and mapping innovations can help insurers succeed in the U.S. private flood insurance market. 

Flood is a complex natural catastrophe, with great variations across small spatial areas, producing extremely localized effects. Sometimes, one property may be badly flooded while its neighbor two doors down is spared. As a result, managing this risk is often seen as a challenge by U.S. insurers. In fact, although 90 percent of all natural disasters in the U.S. involve flooding according to the Insurance Information Institute, it could still be regarded as the least understood natural peril.