Zurich Insurance Group and flood-forecasting insurtech firm Previsico have extended their partnership to the insurance giant’s public sector arm, Zurich Municipal, in a deal aimed at boosting flood resilience among the UK’s publicly run organisations.
The new partnership enables Zurich Municipal to provide customers with free surface flood-warning systems and local authorities with a new district flood-warning service for roads and parks.
Read more: Previsico marks UK-wide launch
The deal comes as flood risk in the country continues to increase due to climate change. According to the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment Technical Report, unless people take further action, under a 2C by 2100 warming scenario, annual damages from flooding for non-residential properties across the nation is expected to increase by 27% by 2050.
Previsico’s platform uses a combination of rainfall nowcasts and forecasts to deliver continuously updated warnings.
Zurich will fund the service, allowing its customers to reduce significant losses and disruption for the general public.
“Surface water flooding is a growing risk, which we know causes major disruption to our customers and the services they provide,” said Andrew Jepp, managing director of Zurich Municipal. “We are continually looking at ways we can support our customers to understand and reduce the risks they face. Our new partnership with Previsico will help our customers to take targeted action to build resilience in their communities.”
Jonathan Jackson, CEO at Previsico, added that the extension followed the partnership’s success in the private sector.
“It will enable Zurich to provide warnings down to individual property level (25m) up to 48-hours in advance for insured properties, a first for the public sector, as well as giving local government support with warnings for roads and parks,” Jackson said.
Zurich Municipal works closely with Zurich Resilience Solutions, which helps companies and the public sector manage their risk through undertaking flood risk analysis and advising customers on implementing resilience measures.
