JBA Risk Management has launched a new comprehensive Australian inland flood model to meet increasing demand from the insurance and risk markets for better flood insights.
Traditionally considered a secondary peril, flooding is becoming an increasing concern for the insurance sector with significant flood events in New South Wales and Queensland in recent years with the latest, ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, having made landfall on the Australian east coast this weekend causing widespread devastation.
The UK-based flood science specialist’s new model includes detailed 5m flood data coverage for Australia’s key urban areas including Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne, integrating both physical and statistical approaches to assess pluvial and fluvial flooding from tropical and non-tropical storm events. The rest of the country is covered to a consistent 30m resolution. The Australia Flood Model is underpinned by JBA high-resolution flood maps which are already used by around half of the insurance market in the country to support risk-based decisions around flood.
JBA’s use of fully hydro-dynamically modelled flood maps ensures the most realistic representation of flood water dynamics across diverse terrain, incorporating the latest 2D hydraulic modelling, terrain data, channel capacity, and sea level science, alongside flood defense data. In addition to offering forward-looking insights into potential changes in flood risk and associated losses by 2050 and 2080, based on climate scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, the model also provides a sensitivity analysis tool, enabling clients to explore a range of ‘what if” scenarios.
JBA Risk Management managing director Mansi Kalra said that their Australia flood model complete with the new sensitivity tool is a first for the Australian market. “Providing comprehensive coverage and insight at a level of detail not previously available, enabling our users to better evaluate climate change impacts on flood risk for better portfolio planning, capital management, and regulatory compliance. Feedback from the market has already been extremely positive,” she said.