The rising risk of floods in the UK plagues commercial properties. With ongoing reports highlighting that extreme weather events have doubled globally since the 1980s, we now see a staggering 800 floods reported year on year in the past ten years alone.
Commercial flood risk in the UK has increased over the years for several reasons. The main two:
- Global warming, and
- Developers now have a green light to build on flood plains.
The fear of falling victim to a flooding disaster, the issue of securing the new property (especially if built on flood plains), and then trying to secure adequate insurance that covers fire and flood damage restoration all combined can be a massive headache for business.
From torrential rain and flash flooding, homes and businesses can be underwater in no time.
Mother nature can be so violent and so freak that quite often, not even the experts can prepare for the disastrous effects. Damaging buildings, causing power failures, and general flood damage, the UK’s flood risk is now of grave concern to environmentalists, property developers, government, scientists, businesses, researchers, and more.
Of course, it’s not all down to mother nature either. Drainage systems throughout the UK are struggling to cope with the volume of water flowing into them as rainfall intensity continues to increase, which in turn is increasing the frequency of sewer flooding dramatically.
There is also a loss of urban green space and an acceptance of building and developing on floodplains, contributing to the UK’s vulnerability and risk of floods.
The effect of this risk on commercial properties
It is predicted that in the UK alone we will see approximately a 10% rise in average rainfall annually by 2100. And when a freak storm hits or torrential rainfalls greatly in such a short amount of time, the flood risk is raised considerably.
With rising sea levels and ever bigger storm surges predicted, we understand that businesses’ flooding costs will escalate.
Unfortunately, when floods happen, businesses are immediately forced to close with all of their energy than put into flood damage repairs.
But that’s not the only risk.
There are risks associated with your business and the issue of flooding even before an actual flood shuts you down.
For example, the higher the risk of flooding in your area, the lower your commercial property value. Of course, this is not because your premises are located in a bad area but because those premises in high flood risk areas are also deemed high risk. Unfortunately, these businesses will find less affordable and reasonable commercial building insurance as a result.
You also have the fact that those looking to purchase commercial premises may look less favourably on those properties where their business will continually be at risk; hence you may find lower property prices as a result.
The British Insurance Brokers Association is working on new property insurance schemes to offer affordable flood risk insurance and ensuring much more robust due diligence on commercial areas is now undertaken.
Fire and flood damage restoration
Forward and effective planning in business is essential. Putting in place robust flood plans can ensure everyone understands their roles and responsibilities if the worst ever were to happen in your commercial property.
From the start, it is important to assess your property and the local environment in full.
For example, identifying if the premises are near a river which could rise quickly in bad weather. You then need to know who is responsible for putting in place temporary flood barriers.
What happens if a pipe suddenly bursts? Who is to action the repair? Who is responsible for the clean up afterwards? Etc.
You also need to have the correct and appropriate insurance policy and loss of rent insurance in place to afford you complete protection.
A business’s best chance of defence is to act early. Assessing all potential risks, putting all the right preventative measures in place, and fully understanding your overall risk exposure.
Maintaining soil water retention capacity and taking advantage of trees and plants can also help manage where water flows and how the best water and rainfall can be absorbed.
For tips on how to prevent fire and flood damage, check out our latest article.
It is always recommended and a good idea for businesses to have a team specialising in water damage restoration on hand.
Using a professional and experienced team like Clear Choice can save you time and money, which for business, is crucial.
Helping with post-flood recovery, assessing damage, loss, and reinstatement strategies, flood damage repair, flood damage cleaning, and much more we’re on hand to help with it all.
For trusted professional advice and flood damage cleaning services, call us today
