Insurers with natural catastrophe exposure can now get an early warning of damage to come with then launch of a new service by Tropical Storm Risk (TSR).

TSR is a consortium of experts on insurance, risk management and seasonal climate forecasting led by the Benfield Hazard Research Centre at University College London, has launched an email alert service for tropical storms worldwide.

The system extends the capability of TSR’s Tropical Storm Tracker by allowing users to receive email warnings on the severity of impending storm landfall risk.

The email alert denotes the severity of windspeed risk by the use of Red/Yellow/Green alert levels which are distinguished by forecast wind speed strength and its chance of happening. Users may select the basin areas for which they wish to receive alerts (choice of seven worldwide), their preferred risk level for an alert to be triggered, and how often they wish to receive alerts when a storm is triggering.

Professor Mark Saunders, the TSR lead scientist and Head of Seasonal Forecasting and Meteorological Hazards at the Benfield Hazard Research Centre, said: “We have launched the TSR storm email alerts to meet the needs of government officials, (re)insurance industry professionals and media who require accurate and timely information on the occurrence and status of tropical storms threatening landfall.”