Hurricane Gonzalo, which passed directly over Anguilla on October 13, leaving behind damage to buildings and flooded communities, has triggered the first payout from CCRIF SPC, formerly the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility, for excess rainfall.

The Cayman Islands-based CCRIF said it is preparing to make a payout of about US$500,000 to the Anguillan government.

The organization said the National Emergency Operations Centre indicated that there was flooding at the Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport, the public library and other areas in three of the 14 districts.

Anguilla is one of eight CCRIF member countries that purchased excess rainfall coverage in June at the start of the 2014/15 policy year.

The country also has a CCRIF tropical cyclone, that is, hurricane policy, which is based on modeled losses due to wind and storm surge as part of its disaster risk management strategy.

In a release, CCRIF said the modeled losses from Hurricane Gonzalo were below Anguilla’s policy attachment point or deductible and therefore that policy was not triggered.

The excess rainfall policy complements the tropical cyclone policy, allowing Anguilla to be covered for two perils that often occur at the same time during hurricanes.

CCRIF said the excess rainfall product is aimed primarily at extreme high rainfall events of short duration – a few hours to a few days – whether they happen during a hurricane or not.

Like CCRIF’s tropical cyclone and earthquake insurance, the excess rainfall product is parametric, which means that a payout can be made within 14 days after an event that triggers a country’s policy, without waiting for time-consuming damage and loss assessments on the ground.

This payout is the second Anguilla will receive from CCRIF. In 2010, CCRIF made a payout of US$4.28 million under the country’s tropical cyclone policy following the passage of Hurricane Earl.

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