RMS predicts hurricane risk

The Wall Street Journal.

While the buildings closest to the coast are clearly the most likely to suffer serious damage, the model from Risk Management Solutions (RMS) has increased the estimates for how much harm a hurricane can do in the hours after it blows ashore and begins moving inland.

RMS says it used more than $18 billion worth of claims data from the past 20 years, plus engineering research to determine building vulnerability within the new model, according to Business Insurance.

Claire Souch, vice-president of natural catastrophe and portfolio solutions for RMS, says: “Following the results of our analysis, we worked closely with engineering consultants to re-examine code enforcement and building practices throughout the US hurricane states.”

This, she says, includes regions where there have been a few recent hurricane landfalls to really test building stock.

Aiming to leverage the latest advancements in computing power, RMS says it has run thousands of storm simulations, as many as 40 times more than are in the historical record, to generate a detailed modelling study to provide insight into hurricanes, says News Insurances.com.