Hurricane Helene made it devastatingly clear that inland riverine flooding can inundate communities, upending lives and livelihoods in an instant. Floodbase and our partners at Raincoat are proud to have been selected by RISE to work closely with local community leaders in southwest Virginia to design and develop community-based flood insurance programs that leverage Floodbase’s deep learning framework for flood monitoring and Raincoat’s parametric insurance solution.
The final product will be a program that sets measurable, data-driven thresholds to trigger immediate payouts to local governments or community organizations when riverine flooding reaches a certain magnitude.
With limited insurance options and delayed federal or donor-led disaster funding, flood-impacted municipalities and community organizations often struggle to gain access to rapid capital to rebuild their community, support the most vulnerable residents and maintain continuity of public services. By partnering with RISE to design much needed community-based flood insurance programs, Floodbase will enable local governments and community NGOs to provide an injection of financial support to vulnerable households and businesses in the aftermath of a flood event.
In an effort to strengthen flood resilience in southwest Virginia, RISE, a Virginia-based nonprofit focused on climate adaptation, has awarded $1.2 million in funding to five winners of its Riverine Community Resilience Challenge. Floodbase, and our partners at Raincoat have been awarded a grant via RISE from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), which is supporting projects aimed at developing advanced flood warning systems and community-driven insurance solutions to protect vulnerable communities.
“Without access to capital following a flood event, and facing diminished tax revenue, community recovery can languish as local governments await federal assistance. We are excited to partner with Raincoat and grateful to RISE for their support to develop a community-based flood insurance program that will change the trajectory of relief and recovery for communities in Virginia and beyond,” said Floodbase Head of Public Sector Partnerships, Emmalina Glinskis.
This week, the Floodbase team will join other grant winners to discuss details of their solutions during a panel session at the 2024 Virginia Governor’s Housing Conference in Virginia Beach. To learn more, please visit RISE to read the official announcement.
