(Zurich, 10 June 2013) PERILS AG, the independent Zurich based company providing industry wide catastrophe insurance data, has today announced the release of satellite based flood footprints for the ongoing floods in Central Europe which are affecting mainly Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic
The images, which PERILS will update over the duration of the floods, are based on radar and optical satellite data , and cover the Danube and Vltava – Elbe river basins.
Daily flood snapshots will be produced to facilitate the immediate assessment of the possible impact of the events. In addition, after the floods, a map showing the maximum extent of the flooding will be produced.
The flood footprints are in a geo-coded format and can be easily combined with other geo-coded data such as insured exposure information.
The images are part of the trial phase of a project to provide satellite -based flood footprints to the insurance industry and are sponsored by the European Space Agency. The map data are produced by SERTIT and Vista, companies offering Remote Sensing services. PERILS acts as the distribution platform for the data.
The satellite-based flood footprints can be viewed and down loaded free of charge from the PERILS website at www.perils.org/web/products/earth-observation
Commenting on the release of the images,Eduard Held, Head of Products at PERILS, said:“ We sincerely hope that the flood footprint information provided by PERILS will assist the industry in managing the consequences of the flood events currently impacting Central Europe. Our aim is to provide data which is of high relevance to the industry as a whole and which contributes to the better management and understanding of natural catastrophe risk.”
More information can be found on www.perils.org
PR Contact: Nigel Allen / +44 7988 478824/ nigel.allen@perils.org