Project Case Study

UK River Flood Model Development

Client
Risk Management Solutions (RMS) - the worlds
leading provider of products and services for
quantification and management of catastrophe risk.
Business Need
RMS wished to add a Flood peril model to its
existing earthquake, hurricane, and tornado & hail
models. Flooding being a major cause of
catastrophe loss in the UK, such a model would
help quantify the risk associated with riverine floods
for the entire UK. Modeling extreme precipitation
events and hydrological modeling would be
required in this development effort.
Solution
RMSI undertook the actual model development
under the guidance of experienced modelers at
RMS.
The activities included spatial analysis, finalization
of river network, rainfall modeling, catchment
delineation and study, rainfall to runoff modeling,
flood depth calculations, and a lot of non-spatial
analysis.
The RMSI team used multiple communication
channels, including visits to the client site for a
thorough understanding of the project and for
improved coordination with the RMS team. The
RMSI team also used industry standard automated
tools to speed up the analysis and maintain the
required high quality of data.
The client has shown the rainfall to runoff movie file
in a number of conferences and this has now
become a common phenomenon in other models
too. The file provides visualization to the runoff
process.
Benefits
RMS was able to complete the development of the
UK River Flood Model within the prescribed time.
This model is the first of its kind in the insurance
market. The client showed its trust in RMSI by
awarding the extension of this project to RMSI. This
extension is intended to enhance the resolution of
the model by including not only major rivers, but
also small rivers and drainage systems.
Technologies
ArcGIS 8.x, ArcView 3.x with Spatial
Analyst and Dialog Designer Extensions,
ArcInfo NT, MapInfo and AutoCAD Map
SQL Server and MS Access
Avenue, Map Basic, AML and VBA

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