View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2017/02/14/441698.htm
Palomar Specialty Insurance Co. has launched Flood Guard, a private flood program in California that uses an advanced and granular proprietary rating system. Palomar used catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide’s probabilistic flood model for the United States in its rate filing.
According to Jon Christianson, chief operating officer at Palomar Specialty, it is the first admitted insurance company to launch a stand-alone residential flood insurance product in California.
Flood Guard provides residential flood coverage and is an alternative to FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Through its rating algorithm and online platform, Flood Guard offers affordable coverage and provides agents the ability to quote and bind coverage quickly. Palomar Specialty is writing Flood Guard exclusively through agents appointed with Prospect General Insurance Agency.
In October 2014, AIR Worldwide released a detailed, physically based probabilistic inland flood model for the United States. The flood model provides insurers and other stakeholders with a comprehensive tool for assessing and managing inland flood risk at a high resolution for locations on and off the many and varied floodplains across the United States.
Palomar Specialty Insurance Co. focuses on catastrophe-exposed residential and commercial property lines of business, particularly catastrophe insurance products, including residential and commercial earthquake, multiperil homeowners, residential hurricane, and commercial business written on an “all-risk” basis in select hurricane-exposed states.