NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Floodbase, the climate adaptation technology company that provides precise, near real-time data and analysis on flooding and flood risk to insurance companies and governments, has been selected through the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate’s Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP) to strengthen FEMA’s flood analytics capabilities.
As an SVIP participant, Floodbase will provide a national, near real-time flood intelligence system to improve the quality, efficiency, and speed of the NFIP’s damage estimations and insurance operations.
Floodbase’s flood intelligence system will consist of three elements:
- Daily flood monitoring through a combination of multi-satellite imagery composites and deep learning hydrology models. The result is a continuous map of flood severity every day, enabling Floodbase to capture the peak of any flood at the county and census tract level.
- Near real-time mapping of ongoing events, with post-event maps delivered within 72 hours of image capture to allow the NFIP to better understand the extent and depth of floodwaters.
- Improved forecasting data with the creation of triggers and thresholds including index-based approaches to improve FEMA’s flood damage estimates and alert FEMA about potential severe impacts to NFIP-insured properties.
“Floodbase is proud to partner with FEMA in providing solutions to enhance the NFIP’s decision making capabilities,” said Bessie Schwarz, CEO of Floodbase. “For those affected by floods, any delay in providing relief can cause additional hardships. By combining the satellite imagery, hydrology data, and machine learning technology that Floodbase offers, the NFIP will be able to deploy vital resources to those who need it most, faster.”
“Flooding is devastating for households and communities,” said Jeffrey Jackson, FEMA’s Acting Assistant Administrator for Federal Insurance, which oversees the delivery of flood insurance for the NFIP. “I look forward to exploring with Floodbase how their predictive and post-flood analysis can help us more quickly understand a major flood event so we can make timely decisions to support our policyholders.”
Floodbase’s flood intelligence system will help FEMA better understand the location and depth of floodwaters, which could enable the NFIP to estimate the impacts of flood events more accurately to inform its actions in support of policyholders.
Floodbase’s flood intelligence product deployed in the U.S. through the SVIP will simultaneously enable parametric flood insurance in the private reinsurance sector. Unlike conventional indemnity flood insurance, parametric flood insurance offers payouts based upon an index and thresholds of flood severity, which requires precise, real-time data over large areas, and does not require the use of a claims adjustment process. As a result, parametric policies can make payouts based on predetermined conditions, getting policyholders their compensation more quickly after severe events.
About Floodbase
Floodbase is a climate adaptation technology company that provides precise, near real-time data and analysis on flooding and flood risk. Powered by satellites, machine learning, and hydrological data, Floodbase’s products provide previously inaccessible data to insurance companies and governments to inform better flood preparedness and recovery decisions. Led by top scientists in hydrology and remote sensing, Floodbase offers access to the most cost-effective and actionable flood insights on the market. FloodbaseC2S’s unique combination of satellite imagery, historical data, and modeling can produce accurate predictions of flood locations and severity to create new options for the previously-uninsured as well as precise, near real-time measurements of flooding events to inform parametric policy payouts.
About the Silicon Valley Innovation Program
The DHS Science and Technology Directorate’s SVIP invests in start-up companies from across the nation and around the world, with viable technologies suitable for rapid prototyping projects to adapt, develop and harness cutting-edge capabilities that are commercially sustainable, while simultaneously meeting the needs of DHS operational components and programs.
For more information on current and future SVIP solicitations, visit https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/svip or contact dhs-silicon-valley@hq.dhs.gov.
For more information about S&T’s innovation programs and tools, visit https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/work-with-st.
