The Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Estimate Direct Tangible Losses to Residential Properties from Flood Events: A Case Study of Cockermouth Following the Desmond Storm
Damage caused by flood events is expected to increase in the coming decades driven by increased land use pressures and climate change impacts. The insurance sector needs accurate and efficient loss adjustment methodologies for flood events. These can include remote sensing approaches that enable the...
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doaj-a06dedf565cb4f5ea649be8e4e6814a62020-11-24T20:43:39ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922018-09-011010154810.3390/rs10101548rs10101548The Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Estimate Direct Tangible Losses to Residential Properties from Flood Events: A Case Study of Cockermouth Following the Desmond StormMonica Rivas Casado0Tracy Irvine1Sarah Johnson2Marco Palma3Paul Leinster4School of Water, Energy and Environment, Cranfield University, Cranfield MK430AL, UKOasis Hub, 3rd Floor 40 Bermindsey Street, London SE13UD, UKSchool of Geography, Geology and the Environment, University Road, University of Leicester, Leicester LE17RH, UKDipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente (DISVA), via Brecce Bianche, Monte Dago, 60130 Ancona, ItalySchool of Water, Energy and Environment, Cranfield University, Cranfield MK430AL, UKDamage caused by flood events is expected to increase in the coming decades driven by increased land use pressures and climate change impacts. The insurance sector needs accurate and efficient loss adjustment methodologies for flood events. These can include remote sensing approaches that enable the rapid estimation of (i) damage caused to property as well as (ii) the number of affected properties. Approaches based on traditional remote sensing methods have limitations associated with low-cloud cover presence, oblique viewing angles, and the resolution of the geomatic products obtained. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are emerging as a potential tool for post-event assessment and provide a means of overcoming the limitations listed above. This paper presents a UAV-based loss-adjustment framework for the estimation of direct tangible losses to residential properties affected by flooding. For that purpose, features indicating damage to property were mapped from UAV imagery collected after the Desmond storm (5 and 6 December 2015) over Cockermouth (Cumbria, UK). Results showed that the proposed framework provided an accuracy of 84% in the detection of direct tangible losses compared with on-the-ground household-by-household assessment approaches. Results also demonstrated the importance of pluvial and, from eye witness reports, lateral flow flooding, with a total of 168 properties identified as flooded falling outside the fluvial flood extent. The direct tangible losses associated with these additional properties amounted to as high as £3.6 million. The damage-reducing benefits of resistance measures were also calculated and amounted to around £4 million. Differences in direct tangible losses estimated using the proposed UAV approach and the more classic loss-adjustment methods relying on the fluvial flood extent was around £1 million—the UAV approach providing the higher estimate. Overall, the study showed that the proposed UAV approach could make a significant contribution to improving the estimation of the costs associated with urban flooding, and responses to flooding events, at national and international levels.http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/10/10/1548droneunmanned aerial vehiclefloodcatastropheimpactextentdamageidentification |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Monica Rivas Casado Tracy Irvine Sarah Johnson Marco Palma Paul Leinster |
spellingShingle |
Monica Rivas Casado Tracy Irvine Sarah Johnson Marco Palma Paul Leinster The Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Estimate Direct Tangible Losses to Residential Properties from Flood Events: A Case Study of Cockermouth Following the Desmond Storm Remote Sensing drone unmanned aerial vehicle flood catastrophe impact extent damage identification |
author_facet |
Monica Rivas Casado Tracy Irvine Sarah Johnson Marco Palma Paul Leinster |
author_sort |
Monica Rivas Casado |
title |
The Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Estimate Direct Tangible Losses to Residential Properties from Flood Events: A Case Study of Cockermouth Following the Desmond Storm |
title_short |
The Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Estimate Direct Tangible Losses to Residential Properties from Flood Events: A Case Study of Cockermouth Following the Desmond Storm |
title_full |
The Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Estimate Direct Tangible Losses to Residential Properties from Flood Events: A Case Study of Cockermouth Following the Desmond Storm |
title_fullStr |
The Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Estimate Direct Tangible Losses to Residential Properties from Flood Events: A Case Study of Cockermouth Following the Desmond Storm |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Estimate Direct Tangible Losses to Residential Properties from Flood Events: A Case Study of Cockermouth Following the Desmond Storm |
title_sort |
use of unmanned aerial vehicles to estimate direct tangible losses to residential properties from flood events: a case study of cockermouth following the desmond storm |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Remote Sensing |
issn |
2072-4292 |
publishDate |
2018-09-01 |
description |
Damage caused by flood events is expected to increase in the coming decades driven by increased land use pressures and climate change impacts. The insurance sector needs accurate and efficient loss adjustment methodologies for flood events. These can include remote sensing approaches that enable the rapid estimation of (i) damage caused to property as well as (ii) the number of affected properties. Approaches based on traditional remote sensing methods have limitations associated with low-cloud cover presence, oblique viewing angles, and the resolution of the geomatic products obtained. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are emerging as a potential tool for post-event assessment and provide a means of overcoming the limitations listed above. This paper presents a UAV-based loss-adjustment framework for the estimation of direct tangible losses to residential properties affected by flooding. For that purpose, features indicating damage to property were mapped from UAV imagery collected after the Desmond storm (5 and 6 December 2015) over Cockermouth (Cumbria, UK). Results showed that the proposed framework provided an accuracy of 84% in the detection of direct tangible losses compared with on-the-ground household-by-household assessment approaches. Results also demonstrated the importance of pluvial and, from eye witness reports, lateral flow flooding, with a total of 168 properties identified as flooded falling outside the fluvial flood extent. The direct tangible losses associated with these additional properties amounted to as high as £3.6 million. The damage-reducing benefits of resistance measures were also calculated and amounted to around £4 million. Differences in direct tangible losses estimated using the proposed UAV approach and the more classic loss-adjustment methods relying on the fluvial flood extent was around £1 million—the UAV approach providing the higher estimate. Overall, the study showed that the proposed UAV approach could make a significant contribution to improving the estimation of the costs associated with urban flooding, and responses to flooding events, at national and international levels. |
topic |
drone unmanned aerial vehicle flood catastrophe impact extent damage identification |
url |
http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/10/10/1548 |
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