We evaluated 5.1 million acres of crop damage
From the 2019 Midwestern Floods in under 1 hour.
Floods are the costliest natural disaster, affecting the greatest number of people worldwide. In fact, they have caused the largest portion of insured losses among all the natural disasters in recent years.
Over 75% of natural disasters that occur worldwide involve flooding. This is unfortunately becoming a more regular occurrence due to the issues we face with climate change.
The agricultural sector is particularly vulnerable to floods. They cause detrimental damage, particularly if they strike during planting or harvesting season. When flooding occurs on agricultural land, it not only affects the crop itself but the excess water damages the soil health. If soil is too wet it can result in both prevented planting and replanting claims.
View our info graphic.
SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) technology offers imagery that can be captured day and night and in all weather conditions. This lends itself perfectly to the monitoring of flooding where bad visibility weather conditions will be present before, during and after the flooding occurs. Other remote-sensing technology, such as optical imagery cannot operate in poor visibility.
Often, due to the nature of flooding assessors can’t physically access the flooded areas. This is necessary to report on the damage, so they often have to wait for waters to recede.
The January – May period of 2019 was the wettest on record for the USA. This caused catastrophic flooding in 9 major grain producing states during the spring season. Almost 14 million people were affected.
We delivered detailed analysis over Iowa as a whole. We identified the most impacted areas and the total impact across the state.
The incredible scale of the flooding led to adjusters physically visiting a vast area in order to understand the severity and extent of damage. PlanetWatchers can automate this process to deliver results in just 1 hour.
Historical Analysis
Our historical analysis of flooding allows us to generate flood-frequency, multi-year mapping. This can be used to assess risk and predict future claims. This analysis can be delivered at scale right down to the individual field level.
5.1 million
The acres of crop damage caused by the 2019 Midwestern floods.
$3.6 billion
The cost of damage caused by the 2019 Midwestern floods.
14 million
The number of people affected by the 2019 Midwestern floods.
1 hour
The time taken for us to analyse the 2019 Midwestern Floods.