The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) is finalising a review of the latest version of the National Flood Information Database, with figures showing about 20% of addresses have a flood exposure.

The data set features individual flood risk information for more than 14 million addresses in Australia, based on government flood mapping supplied to the industry over the past decade.

The latest data shows 80.46% of addresses in Australia have no known flood exposure, 12.17% have a measured exposure and 7.37% have an unmapped exposure, GM Risk Karl Sullivan says in comments on his LinkedIn page. “More work is required to mitigate the flood risk to the 12.17% of addresses where we know flooding occurs.”

Mr Sullivan says exposure estimates have changed compared with the past, when often the figures only took account of higher-frequency floods and not the probable maximum event.

“It’s also relevant to note how much more data the industry now has compared with even five years ago, giving us a much clearer picture,” he says.

He says the industry must keep pressing for data on the 7% of exposures that are unmapped, and keep working with governments at all levels on permanent and effective mitigation.