Apps used to help quantify and manage risk over Sandy’s lifecycle

Willis Group Holdings reports more than 60 insurers used information gathered from two hurricane forecast apps to help mitigate risk in advance of Superstorm Sandy.

Online applications for hurricane risk assessment can assist clients in managing and mitigating risk, as well as efficiently planning and mobilizing response, notes a statement from Willis Group Holdings and SpatialKey.

Willis Re’s eVENT Hurricane app and SpatialKey’s Hurricane Forecasts app were used to quantify and manage risk throughout Sandy’s lifecycle. The former offers access to Kinetic Analysis Corporation’s detailed wind and surge footprint data, while the latter captures National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s real-time forecasts and event details.

“The steps taken to mitigate our exposures and to ensure that our insured risks are geographically spread are having a visible impact in minimizing the losses after a storm such as Superstorm Sandy,” states Vivalde Couto, vice president and chief underwriting officer for American European Insurance Group Inc.

Couto reports SpatialKey was used to help manage coastal exposures in advance of the storm, while post-landfall, it provided an idea where the company could expect the highest impact from an event.

Both apps “will help us in the decision-making process going forward in how we prepare for and minimize the impact of future hurricanes/storms,” he adds.

“Given the extent of Sandy’s footprint, we needed detailed footprint data to assist clients in quantifying their risk potential and prioritizing where to focus their response efforts,” says Roy Cloutier, senior vice president of Catastrophe Management Services at Willis Re.

The company’s partnerships with Kinetic and SpatialKey enabled Willis Re “to better understand the scope of Sandy, evaluate potential outcomes, and assess the impacts of storm surge and subsequent fire outbreaks. Further, we were able to deliver this business-critical intelligence to all of our impacted property clients on a daily and hourly basis,” adds Vaughn Jensen, head of Willis Re’s Catastrophe Management Services team in the United States.