HazardHub, the nation’s fastest-growing supplier of geospatial risk data, has announced the release of Sinkhole Susceptibility, the nation’s first database that scores every address in the United States by the risk that the ground beneath them contains formations that lead to the ground collapsing upon itself – aka Sinkholes.
Currently, sinkhole tools are limited to “Distance to Known Sinkholes” calculations, like the one currently available from HazardHub. While effective, they only tell part of the story as new sinkholes will often appear far from where an existing sinkhole is located. For example, a sinkhole at the Villages, FL was more than 1.5 miles away from the nearest known sinkhole. Sinkhole Susceptibility shows that property as a “D” and highly susceptible to sinkholes. Another example is the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, infamously known for a sinkhole that swallowed seven Corvettes on display, which shows a “D” for Sinkhole Susceptibility.
The geologic formations that cause sinkholes occur in 40 of the 50 States, with a higher concentration of sinkhole risk in Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri. Hazardhub’s Sinkhole Susceptibility is a national database that scores every property in the United States.
According to Joe Litchfield, Chief Data Officer at HazardHub, “Sinkhole Susceptibility fills a need in the risk community by providing an unbiased look at the substrates that cause sinkholes to form. When we tested Sinkhole Susceptibility against a database of known sinkholes in the State of Florida, we found that more than 99% of know sinkholes were in our highest risk zones. At HazardHub, we’ve digested and modeled an incredible amount of data to provide information that can help consumers, businesses, and insurers to make better and more informed decisions.”
For one client, Sinkhole Susceptibility identified that more than 10% of their Florida book of business was concentrated in very high zones yet more than 10 miles from known sinkhole locations – a surprising revelation to their underwriters and actuaries.
Bob Frady, CEO of HazardHub, says “Our goal at HazardHub is to continually push the boundaries of hazard risk data that is available and easily accessible to consumers, businesses, and insurers. With Sinkhole Susceptibility, we’re providing a new ingredient that will help drive more knowledge about the risks of a specific property. For existing HazardHub clients, this data is absolutely free to access as part of our overall solution. While nobody is excited to find out that their property is in a high-risk zone, we believe that knowledge is the power that can lead to more protection for a property. ”
