Windstorm damage assessment tool (WISC)​

Windstorms are among the costliest climate extremes in Europe. Estimates of damages mostly rely on post-disaster insurance data, which is often not publicly available. It is therefore difficult to model and assess windstorm damage. The WISC model provides an open-source model which gives damage estimates in line with reported damages from previous windstorms. Damage estimates show that the western part of Europe is greatly impacted by wind extremes 

End users

  • Insurance companies 
  • Real estate investors 
  • Climate change researchers 

Added value

  • Offers an open-source model, which gives a transparent and usable windstorm damage model 
  • Can be applied globally, if data are available 
  • Methodology is transferable to other types of hazards 

Improvements

  • Calibration of vulnerability curves (effect of wind speed on damage) 
  • Empirical data at the building level are required 

More information at https://wisc.readthedocs.io/en/latest/