Pluvial Flood Index

The Pluvial Flood Index (PFI) is 7Analytics' building-level score for surface-water (pluvial) and flash-flood risk. 7Analytics states that current catastrophe models systematically underestimate pluvial risk, especially in urban areas, and that in its validations insurers' premiums barely differed between high- and low-risk properties.

The index measures the inherent susceptibility of each location to surface-water flooding, independent of any historical or simulated rainfall event, and expresses it as a dimensionless score from 0 to 1. It reflects topography, drainage patterns, soil permeability and land use, modelled from 1×1 m terrain and land-use cover data that are continuously reprocessed, and it is trained and calibrated on verified insurance claims. 7Analytics keeps its pre-conditioned landscape model current across the regions it covers, and 7Analytics' published modelling methodology lists satellite-derived land-use classifications among its geospatial inputs. Weather and climate scenarios can be layered on top of the static index, and scores can be aggregated to H3 hexagons for area views.

In 7Analytics' published case study, covering about 1 million US properties and 6 million buildings across 12 European insurers, loss ratios and claims frequency were 5–10 times higher in high PFI bands than in low ones. Fremtind uses 7Analytics' property-level flood data for risk-reflective pricing, and Landkreditt Bank reports that houses with higher 7Analytics risk scores had historically drawn more claims payments. The index is designed to support insurers, banks, asset managers and municipalities in underwriting, pricing, portfolio screening and risk selection.