Business

Business Flood Planning

Ensuring your business has an effective flood plan in place will enable you to respond to the incident more efficiently. You can do this by creating a basic action plan, signing up multiple people or staff to receive flood alerts and warnings, and considering your insurance options.

Business Flood Plans

It is always a good idea to create a flood plan if your business is in an area at risk of flooding, despite whether you have flooded previously or not. A flood plan allows you to note the necessary actions your business needs to take when a flood alert or warning is received in order to minimise disruption. Such actions might include, deploying Property Flood Resilience (PFR), moving equipment and stock, getting a flood kit together and contacting employees.

The information on this page and our ‘Business Flood Planning Guide‘ explains how to create your business flood plan.

Click here to download the ‘Business Flood Planning Guide’

You can download a printable version of a business flood plan here. The document contains a pre-populated flood plan and a blank version, which you can complete yourself or with other staff members and keep in a suitable, easy-to-see place that all staff members are aware of.

Businesses of all sizes should consider having a flood plan, and for larger companies with multiple sites the flood risk should be considered on a site-by-site basis. This may be done centrally by the head office however, it is important that site managers understand what plans are in place for their premises and ensure that site specific changes are made to best protect the property and staff.

The Environment Agency’s ‘Would your business stay afloat?’ document also offers help when preparing your business for possible flooding, suggesting some actions that you can take with a simple flood plan template that you can use.

Steps to Completing Your Business Flood Plan

1. Create a flood plan checklist

Create a checklist to ensure you take all the measures you can to plan and prepare for potential flooding in the future. You can tailor the list to suit the specific needs of your business, and it can include points such as:

Sign up for free flood alerts and warnings if eligible and know what they mean
Investigate Property Flood Resilience (PFR) options.
Back up records and store important documents in a safe place away.

2. Gather a contact list

Taking time to gather some important contacts could be useful if flooding occurs. Here are some suggested contacts:

Ring the Environment Agency’s Floodline (0345 988 1188) if you are unsure of the immediate risk to yourself or require flooding advice. The Environment Agency incident hotline (0800 80 70 60) should be used to report a flood.
Gas, electricity, water, and telephone suppliers will help you to locate and turn off these supplies.
Local radio stations will update listeners with the latest news and weather conditions.
Staff contact details can be listed with clear indication of those who are involved in the flood plan, those who have been trained in actioning the flood plan and those who do not live in a flood risk area.
Ring your insurance company when flooding has occurred and you have decided to claim, as they will tell you what to do to ensure your claim remains valid.
Contact the landlord of the business premises if you do not own it.

3. Consider documents, equipment and property flood resilience products

Identify any important documents, products or equipment that need to be protected and note their locations so you can quickly access them. A business must identify the data and equipment necessary for business continuity and either store these items in a safe area at all times or highlight on the flood plan where they should be moved to as a priority. You should consider:

Paper files – make a copy of important documentation and store in a safe location.
Electronic files and databases – all important documents and data should be regularly backed up on iCloud, Google Drive or another online storage system, or backed up on an external hard drive and stored out of the flood risk area.
Stock, equipment and electrical items – raise items above ground level or to an upper level of the building.
Hazardous materials – if stored in a flood risk area containers must be protected e.g. moved, protected by barriers, or secured so they can’t float away.
Vehicles – move to a safer location or higher ground, this may be off site.

If you have any PFR measures that need putting in place if flooding is expected, make sure to note where it is stored and how to install it. This will help you find it quickly and should allow you to install it as easily as possible.

4. Develop a step-by-step action plan

As part of your flood plan, it is recommended to set out actions to take when flood alerts and warnings are received.

Firstly, ensure you are signed up for free flood alerts and warnings from the Environment Agency which can be received by call, text or email by more than one individual at the business. It is important to understand what the different warnings mean so you can use them to trigger your plan at the right time. Discover alternative flood warnings here if you are ineligible to sign up, or if you’re at risk of surface water flooding. Out of office contact numbers for additional staff members who are local and able to attend if a warning is received should also be signed up to receive flood alerts and warnings.

Secondly, decide what actions you will take at each flood warning stage. Some ideas are suggested below:

‘Flood Alert’ – Flooding to low lying land and roads is possible. Stay vigilant and make early preparations for a potential flood.

Monitor the situation and check the forecast.
Ensure you have access to the flood plan, property flood resilience products and flood kit.
Ensure that staff are aware that a flood alert is in place and the actions to take if the situation develops.

‘Flood Warning’ – Flooding is expected. Immediate action is required to protect yourself and your property.

Move stock and equipment upstairs or to safety.
Deploy temporary flood resistance products (keep a note of where they are stored and how to install them).
Move all vehicles and staff cars out of the flood risk area if possible.
If feasible, evacuate staff who won’t be needed to put the flood plan in place prior to a severe flood warning.

‘Severe Flood Warning’ – Severe flooding is expected. Significant risk to life and property. Prepare to evacuate and cooperate with emergency services.

Upon receiving a severe flood warning you will need to evacuate yourself and all staff from the premises and cooperate with advice from the emergency services.
Turn off gas, electricity and water supplies if possible and safe to do so before you evacuate.

Image: Riverside Cafe cc-by-sa/2.0 – © Philip Halling – geograph.org.uk/p/6861060

Business flood kits

A flood kit should contain items that are essential to your business. Preparing one in advance will save time in the event of a flood. A flood kit should be packed into a sturdy bag, such as a rucksack and stored in an easy to find place. Here are some suggestions of what to put in your flood kit:

A copy of your flood plan
Staff contact list
Important documents

A plan of what to do if you need to evacuate should be included in your flood plan. You should follow local news or contact your local council to find the nearest emergency assistance centre.

For more ideas on what you can add to your step-by-step plan of action, download our Business Flood Planning Guide.

It is good practice to test your flood plan once finished. Run a ‘flood drill’ with staff so they know what to do and what to expect if you ever have to put your plan into place. Run training if necessary and include this in the induction of new employees.

Your flood plan must be reviewed regularly to ensure that contact details are up to date. Good practice is to create a maintenance schedule to check that any PFR measures still function correctly, and practice installing it periodically.

Property Flood Resilience

In order to prepare for flooding, become more resilient to its effects and reduce its impacts, you can implement Property Flood Resilience (PFR) measures to your business premises. These measures can be both flood resistant (keeping water out) and flood resilient (reducing damage when water enters). There are many different products and techniques available to help protect your property. For more detailed information, visit our Property Flood Resilience (PFR) page here.

Considerations specific to business owners:

IT equipment should be placed in suitable locations. Moving IT upstairs or placing it on raised desks or shelves will reduce the risk of floodwater reaching it.
Using racking for equipment and stock. If you store equipment and stock on the premises, ensure it is kept safe from flood water by installing racking to keep it off the ground.
Raw materials and finished products. If you keep a stock of raw materials and finished products, consider how much and for how long you store these. Reducing the amount of stock held on the premises will reduce the chance of it getting damaged should a flood occur.

Image: Flood defences on the Wharfage, Ironbridge cc-by-sa/2.0 – © Mat Fascione – geograph.org.uk/p/7382837

When making your business more resilient to flooding, check that you have covered everything on our Property ‘Flood Resilience’ checklist by clicking here, to ensure you are as prepared as possible for a future flood event. It contains information on:

Signing up for flood warnings
Flood Insurance
Flood Plans
Flood protection and the maintenance of products such as flood doors, flood barriers, SMART air bricks, etc.

FACT: Did you know that the average cost of flooding to a business is £82,000? – Environment Agency

Flood Insurance

It may be more difficult for businesses to obtain flood insurance than for households as businesses are not eligible for insurance through the Flood Re scheme. It is important that you ensure the business is not under insured, particularly with contents cover for expensive equipment or machinery, as the insurance should cover the cost to replace items new and not the current value of the items at the time of taking out the insurance.

Image: The Canalside Cafe and Pub, Gas St, Birmingham cc-by-sa/2.0 – © canalandriversidepubs co uk – geograph.org.uk/p/1835751

For an overview of business flood insurance options, download our resource here.

Making flood insurance more accessible

Planning and preparing for a potential flood and conducting actions to reduce the impacts of a flood event may make it easier for your property to be accepted by insurers. This may include conducting a property level flood survey and installing PFR measures. The insurance company may recognise that you are taking steps to minimise the potential damage which a flood could cause.

Tailored policy through a broker

The British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) has launched a commercial insurance scheme for small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) and landlords to find suitable flood insurance. Their ‘Find a Broker’ service can help you to find and contact a specialist broker to help you get commercial flood insurance cover.

Flood excess insurance

Another option is to consider taking out an additional insurance policy to cover the excess value on the primary policy so that if you ever need to claim on the primary policy, the cost of the excess is covered by the additional policy.

For example, commercial insurance policies with flood cover may have a flood excess costing thousands of pounds, which is unlikely to be affordable for many SMEs. While the cost of an additional excess insurance policy does mean extra financial outlay, it will help to make flood cover accessible to many SMEs.

Parametric insurance

A further option is parametric insurance which works differently to traditional insurance policies as there is no excess or loss adjuster, just a fixed lump sum pay out. The policy holder sets the flood depth at which a claim is triggered (min. 200mm) and the settlement amount payable in the event of a claim (max. £5million), regardless of the loss or damage sustained. There is also the option of a multi-trigger policy. A flood depth sensor is installed on the external face of the premises which relays real-time data and when the trigger point is reached, the claim is automatically paid.

Self insure

As a last option, businesses that find it hard to take out insurance through an insurance company due to high cost premiums could self-insure. This works by the business setting aside money which would otherwise be used for flood insurance premiums and used either to make the company more resilient to flooding, or as a pot of money which could be used for recovery after a flood. However, there are risks that the business may flood multiple times within a short time or that the extent of flooding and damages is much worse than anticipated which could make this insurance strategy risky.

An example of where self-insuring may be suitable is when a business faces very high premiums or an unaffordable excess, but the potential damages are small enough to recover from without the help of an insurance claim. For instance, the stock may be low value or equipment may be easily replaced.

Insurance for rented premises

Only a landlord can insure the building itself so if your business premises is rented, you will only be required to take out contents insurance. It is important that the business is not under insured for its contents, particularly if it has stock or equipment of high value. You may also want to consider loss of earnings cover and business interruption insurance.

For information on how to deal with flood insurance when flooding has occurred, see our ‘Handling Insurance’ section here.

Report

Reporting flooding is critical in ensuring that risk management authorities (RMAs) are aware of problems and can deal with incidents effectively. It is important that you know who to report the different types of flooding to and continue to report each incident to allow RMAs to collate data to keep track of the overall picture of flooding in that area.

If you have experienced flooding, it is very important to report it directly to the relevant authority as early as possible. We do not process any flood reporting on this website, please see below for who to contact.

Public drains and flooded roads

Contact your Highways Authority (County Council or Unitary Authority), they will clear blocked public drains. Click here to find the website for your local council.

Ordinary watercourses

Flooding to ordinary watercourses such as streams or culverts should be reported to your Lead Local Flood Authority, which will either be your District Council (providing it is a Unitary Authority) or County Council. Click here to find the website for your local council.

Groundwater flooding

Report groundwater flooding to your Lead Local Flood Authority, which will either be your District Council (providing it is a Unitary Authority) or County Council. Click here to find the website for your local council.

Sewer flooding

Contact United Utilities on 03456 723 723 or visit their website here to report overflowing sewers that are affecting your business premises.

Blocked drains and burst water mains

Contact your local water company, which is United Utilities if your business is in the North West. For blocked drains visit their website here, or for burst water mains, visit their website here. Alternatively you can call 03456 723 723.

Rivers and the sea

Call the Environment Agency incident hotline on 0800 807 060 or visit this webpage to report:

Flooding from the sea or a main river.
A blockage, for example caused by a fallen tree.
Collapsed or badly damaged river or canal banks.
Unusual changes in river flow.

Contact the Unitary Authority or County Council to report flooding from other watercourses. Click here to find the website for your local council.

Private drains

Floods caused by private drains are the responsibility of the property owner.

The Importance of Reporting Flooding is highlighted in our resource which you can access by clicking here. By reporting floods, it ensures the flood event and those affected get the appropriate response, support, investigation and maintenance.

To download the ‘Who’s responsible for Managing Flood Risk?’ resource click here.

The Flood Hub