Generali GC&C partners with Previsico over flood warnings

Generali Global Corporate & Commercial (GC&C) and the live flood alert InsurTech Company Previsico have signed a partnership to enhance clients’ flood emergency response readiness.

Currently, in the UK, Environment Agency (EA) early warning systems are already in place for river and coastal flooding, but not for surface water flooding, which threatens one in five properties in the UK, more than any other form of flood risk.

The impact of climate change and urbanisation mean that surface water flooding already makes up almost 60% of UK flood risk, according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Further, a threefold increase in commercial property damage from climate related risks is predicted by XDI 1000 by 2050.

Generali GC&C will broaden its own capabilities in terms of insurance coverage thanks to Previsico’s know how, based on technical expertise and warning solutions, in order to help its UK clients mitigate damage coming from major floods events.

Previsico’s solutions provides live, actionable surface water flood warnings not covered by any other system, using live hydrodynamic modelling that draws on several data sources, such as satellite imagery, weather data from the Met Office and IBM, LiDAR elevation data, IoT sensors, and more.

GC&C’s clients can use a flood dashboard, which displays the predicted time and depth of flooding up to 48 hours in advance; email notifications, with warnings that are triggered when properties are at risk; an API feed, with an automated delivery of real-time forecast data allowing integration with existing systems; and a water depth sensor, which enhances monitoring in at risk locations.

“This partnership will be enormously beneficial to our clients and our business,” said Calvin Moore, head of risk engineering GC&C UK. “Recently, two clients suffered pluvial flood events on the same day, leading to almost £1m in losses and delaying construction works by over 6 months. Now, with Previsico, our clients can ensure timely placement of temporary protection measures to prevent such losses from occurring.”