LONDON, UK (24th October, 2019) – Hiscox, the specialist global insurer, has developed a new app – FloodPlus AR – that uses Augmented Reality (AR) to illustrate the growing flood threat to coastal towns and cities from rising sea levels.
The new app allows people to see how predicted sea level rises could affect Greenville, a suburb of Jersey City in the US, using a virtual topographical map.
Rising sea levels could mean that significantly more homeowners are at risk of flooding than they think. According to Hiscox’s analysis*, 8.8% of properties in Hudson County, in which Jersey City lies, could be flooded if global sea levels rose by as much as some climate experts predict to be 2.4m by the end of this century**. More than a third (36%) of these are not in a National Flood Insurance Program-designated Special Flood Hazard Area, meaning they aren’t mandated to buy flood insurance and, as a result, may believe they are not at risk.
Dan Alpay, Flood Line Underwriter for Hiscox London Market, says: “Rising sea levels represent a global threat, with the scientific consensus being that more communities and lives will soon be at risk from flooding. As a leading US flood insurer, it is important to highlight the issue, which this app does neatly using the innovative technology that underpins our FloodPlus product***.
“It is essential that coastal communities’ climate resilience is increased. But for those discussions and preparations to begin, the scale of the threat needs to be better understood. We hope that our new app will help that discussion,” says Alpay.
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For further information please contact:
Abi Clark
+44 (0)20 7448 6470
Notes to Editors
Hiscox FloodPlus AR is available to download from Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. Copy and paste the link below into the browser of your mobile to download your Augmented Reality experience (there is sound):
For Apple devices: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/hiscox-floodplus-ar/id1479685448
Please note, the app is compatible with iPhone models 6S or later.
For Android devices: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hiscox.floodplusar
*Using the intelligent analytics driving FloodPlus, Hiscox has modelled how Hudson county will be impacted by the maximum sea level rise scenario, resulting in 8.8% of properties flooding, of which 36% would be outside of a NFIP designated Special Flood Hazard Area.
** The global sea level could rise by as much as 2.4 metres (nearly 8 feet)[1] by the end of this century if greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current trajectory – more than twice the forecast increase in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Special Report issued in September.
Coastal communities around the world will be threatened. In the US, nearly 40% of the population lives along the coast and may be vulnerable to flooding from a rising sea level. Already, “nuisance flooding” is now 300% to over 900% more frequent than it was 50 years ago along many parts of the US coastline[2].
***For more information about our FloodPlus product, please visit https://www.hiscoxlondonmarket.com/flood-programmes
About Hiscox
Hiscox is a global specialist insurer, headquartered in Bermuda and listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:HSX). Our ambition is to be a respected specialist insurer with a diverse portfolio by product and geography. We believe that building balance between catastrophe-exposed business and less volatile local specialty business gives us opportunities for profitable growth throughout the insurance cycle. It’s a long-standing strategy that in 2018 saw the business deliver a profit before tax of $137.4 million in a challenging year for insurers.
The Hiscox Group employs over 3,300 people in 14 countries, and has customers worldwide. Through the retail businesses in the UK, Europe, Asia and the US, we offer a range of specialist insurance for professionals and business customers as well as homeowners. Internationally traded, bigger ticket business and reinsurance is underwritten through Hiscox London Market and Hiscox Re & ILS.
Our values define our business, with a focus on people, ownership, courage and integrity. We pride ourselves on being true to our word and our award-winning claims service is testament to that. For more information, visit www.hiscoxgroup.com.
[1] Bamber, Oppenheimer, Kopp, Aspinall and Cooke, from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America https://www.pnas.org/content/116/23/11195
[2] Nuisance flooding is defined as being “not deadly or dangerous, usually, but still disruptive and expensive by the US’s National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-sea-level
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