ICEYE launches Flood Insights and Flood Early Warning for Canada, providing near real-time situational awareness

Helsinki, Finland – May 2, 2024 – ICEYE, a global leader in satellite-powered disaster management solutions, has announced the launch of its Flood Insights and Flood Early Warning products for Canada, providing insurers with rapid access to observed flood data when floods occur anywhere in the country.

Floods cause the most damage of any peril in Canada, generating an average annual loss of  $2.9B (CAD). Exposure levels across the country are expected to rise as the effects of climate change result in more frequent and severe events and an increase in the geography exposed to flooding.

ICEYE’s Flood Insights, powered by ICEYE’s synthetic aperture radar (SAR) constellation, provide the data insurance carriers need to mitigate flood risk before, during, and after a flood. ICEYE’s Flood Early Warning data is available 96 hours before each potential flood, showing the areas most likely to experience flooding. During each flood, data on the total extent of the flood water is provided every 24 hours. The complete extent and depth of the flood at the property level is available every 24 hours after the flood peaks.

Speedy access to flood data empowers insurers to make earlier and more informed and effective decisions, saving time and resources and ensuring higher policyholder satisfaction. Rapid situational awareness enables insurers to optimize response plans, communicate proactively with policyholders, size the loss effectively, identify priority regions, allocate and deploy resources quickly and efficiently, improve claims processing, shorten resolution times, and improve policyholder satisfaction.

Stephen Lathrope, SVP, Solutions at ICEYE, said: “Residential insurance coverage for overland flooding has only been available in Canada since 2015, while information on the flood risk is not widely available to the consumer market. This has contributed to lower-than-desired insurance uptake and resulted in high concentrations of risk and ultimately higher costs to policyholders. By providing access to more comprehensive flood loss data, ICEYE aims to support the ongoing development of the flood insurance market in Canada.”

Kurt Jackson, Global Head of Sales at ICEYE, added: “While ICEYE has been monitoring floods in Canada for some time, the rapid growth of our SAR satellite constellation has given us the capacity to officially enter the Canadian market. ICEYE is excited to partner with insurers by providing near real-time observed flood data to support property-level risk migration and event response efforts. Knowing where the water is and the depth at the property level makes all the difference in how to respond best to an event.”