Why We Built NOAH CityTwin™
A recent article in The Energy Mix highlights a growing risk that many municipal leaders already feel on the ground: cities that fail to properly assess climate risk are setting themselves up for long-term financial and infrastructure instability. In the United States, researchers are now documenting a “climate-debt doom loop,” where repeated climate shocks erode property values, weaken municipal tax bases, and make it increasingly difficult to finance the resilience investments communities need to remain safe and solvent. Canada is not immune to this dynamic. While our municipal finance system differs from that of the U.S., the underlying risk exposure is the same. Climate impacts are accelerating, infrastructure is aging, and many municipalities lack the tools needed to understand their true risk, let alone to prioritize and finance adaptation in a disciplined, defensible way. This is the gap NOAH CityTwin™ was created to address.
Flood Risk Transparency is the Starting Point for Resilience
A recent Canadian Press article published by CTV on climate risk and house shopping highlights a quiet but important shift underway in Canada’s housing market: flood risk is no longer a secondary concern. It is becoming a first-order consideration for buyers, homeowners, and real estate professionals alike.
The article notes practical red flags, like basement vulnerabilities, alongside a deeper structural problem: flood risk information in Canada remains fragmented, inconsistent, and difficult for the public to interpret. As extreme rainfall becomes more common, that lack of transparency is itself a source of risk.
Flood risk transparency is not the end goal. But it is the necessary beginning.
Canada’s Emerging Adaptation Market
In December, NOAH participated in the MaRS Climate Impact 2025 Conference and the subsequent MaRS / Tailwind Futures Adaptation & Resilience Innovation Playbook.
Here are some key findings:
Executive Summary
Canada is already spending billions of dollars each year reacting to climate damage, yet the systems, markets, and technologies required to anticipate, price, and reduce physical climate risk remain underdeveloped. The MaRS / Tailwind Futures Canadian Adaptation and Resilience Innovation Playbook confirms what NOAH sees daily in the field: adaptation demand is real, growing, and costly, but poorly structured, reactive, and misaligned with innovation supply.
NOAH exists precisely to close this gap.
Why Insurers & Investors Need Better Flood Data
Insurers & Investors Need Better Property Flood Data
As climate change accelerates, cities and property owners face increasing uncertainty around flood risk. Extreme rainfall events are becoming more intense and frequent, resulting in incomplete risk assessments, underprepared communities, and missed opportunities to fund and prioritize climate resilience.
At NOAH Intelligence, we know that escalating climate volatility demands better climate resiliency tools. NOAH HydroSim™ Flood Modelling sets the new standard, combining real-world event data with advanced simulation to generate truly actionable flood risk insights. It’s not just about predicting floods – it’s about equipping people, governments, and industries to prevent losses, protect lives, and build smarter for the future.
Rethinking Flood Risk: An Interview with NOAH’s Founders
Steve Van Haren and Chris Godsall are seated in the head office of NOAH Intelligence, looking out the window at Union Station across the street. The co-founders have very different backgrounds, but you could easily assume they’ve known each other all their lives – and might comfortably finish the other’s sentences.
“The flooding last summer – and in 2013 and 2018 – was predictable,” says Van Haren, a former Principal Water Resources Engineer with WSP. He points to the train station that was shut down last July 16th when three hours of heavy rain from trailing thunderstorms caused widespread flooding in Toronto (and $990 million of property damage).
NOAH’s Flood Risk Scorecards for Individual Properties: A Physics-based Approach
NOAH Intelligence has developed dynamic flood modeling and flood simulation technologies to provide greater accuracy and scalability for property managers, real estate agencies, insurance companies, financial institutions and municipalities. The company is on a mission to help all property owners manage the reality of their flood risk using accurate data and achievable flood defense.
What are “100-Year Flooding Events”? Does it Mean Once Every 100 Years?
For decades, the term “100-year flooding event” has been used to describe catastrophic floods that are statistically expected to occur, on average, once per century. However, this terminology is increasingly misleading in today’s world of climate change, urbanization, and shifting weather patterns. What was once considered an event with a 1% chance of happening in any given year is now occurring far more often, rendering the description outdated and even misleading in flood risk planning and communication.
Why is Pluvial Flooding the Biggest and Least Understood Risk for CRE
Flooding is the most damaging and most costly climate change risk in Canada. Asset owners planning flood defense are faced with several challenges and choices, including potential investments in dry and/or wet floodproofing, stormwater detention systems, drainage improvements, flood barriers, retention basins, as well as natural flood management options, early warning systems and guaranteed flood response contracts.
Are You Safe from Flooding?
The answer is No (and Yes).
Last July 16th, a summer rainstorm swept into Southern Ontario and seemed to pause over Toronto. Three hours later, flooding had displaced 500,000 people and caused damage that experts say could reach $4 billion (including $990 million of insured losses). That’s roughly $1.3 billion per hour of rain. A month later, another once-in-a-century storm hit Ontario just days after catastrophic flooding in Quebec resulted in over 70,000 insurance claims