Storm Ready Neighbourhood
A neighbourhood-level AI tool that tells Ottawa homeowners their specific basement-flood risk, what their insurance actually covers, and what to do in the 72 hours after the next big storm.
Ottawa-area homeowners who want to prepare before the next Canada Day-style downpour
- Address-level flood-risk score combining city hydrology data, your home's elevation, and historical claims
- Plain-English policy audit that flags missing sewer-backup or overland-water coverage before you renew
- 72-hour post-storm checklist with contractor directories, city helpline numbers, and refund forms
- Neighbourhood heatmap showing which streets flooded and how often
Premium hikes of $800/month for added flood coverage show the insurance market is broken in flood-prone wards, and homeowners need both preparation tools and leverage at renewal time.
Confirmed real pain: 118 mm Canada Day storm flooded Ottawa basements and knocked out power; flood risk is now the biggest driver of Ontario home insurance hikes (>20% in some cities).Ottawa sees more than 100 mm of rain as severe Canada Day storm floods ↗Flood risk is driving some Ontario home insurance prices up by more ↗
City of Ottawa publishes riverine flood-plain maps (1:50/100/350 year) and a basement-flooding FAQ, and McDougall/Ratehub publish generic insurance guides, but no integrated neighbourhood-level tool that combines basement-flood risk + personal insurance coverage check + 72-hour action plan appears to exist.Flood Plain Mapping and Climate Change - City of Ottawa ↗Ontario Basement Flood Insurance: What's Covered and What's Not? ↗
Severe-weather losses hit $2.4B in Canada in 2025 and Ontario insurers are raising premiums 20%+ in flood-exposed cities — homeowners facing real dollar pain will pay for a tool that helps them prepare and push back at renewal time; insurance carriers and brokers are also natural B2B buyers.Flood Insurance: Get Water Damage Coverage in Canada | Ratehub.ca ↗Flood risk is driving some Ontario home insurance prices up by more ↗
Structural and worsening: Ottawa keeps its CRS Class 2 flood-resilience rating through 2027 and is investing in floodplain/mapping work; climate change is intensifying severe storms, so neighbourhood flood risk is a multi-decade problem, not a fad.RE: Floodplain Management Annual Progress Report (2024) ↗Urban Flooding Frequently Asked Questions - City of Ottawa ↗
Buildable but non-trivial: City of Ottawa already exposes interactive flood-plain GIS and basement-flooding guidance, but the tool still needs a per-address risk model, OCR/parsing of varied insurer policy wording, and a 72-hour playbook — doable, but requires data engineering and ongoing policy updates.Flood Plain Mapping and Climate Change - City of Ottawa ↗Urban Flooding Frequently Asked Questions - City of Ottawa ↗