RiskSTOP Surveys Ltd has produced a new guide for underwriters and brokers, to help them support commercial policyholders and clients in preparing a flood plan.
Data from the European Academies' Science Advisory Council (EASAC) has recently revealed that globally, the number of floods and other hydrological events has quadrupled since 1980 and doubled since 2004.
In the UK, the floods of 2007 affected over 55,000 homes and businesses and was the worst seen in over 60 years. These were followed by the wettest winter on record in 2013-2014 and between November 2015 and January 2016 we had the highest ever level of rainfall for that period, causing some of the most extreme and severe floods in a century.
This year, the weather has been more about extreme heat, rather than rainfall. Reservoirs owned by Thames Water in the south east of England recently sunk to their lowest levels for more that 30 years. However, already in October 2018 , we have seen severe flooding affect parts of the country.
“More flooding events have been predicted for this winter, although extreme weather events are of course notoriously difficult to forecast,” said Marcus Owen, Risk Consultant at RiskSTOP. “However, what is clear from past events, is that businesses with a plan that prepared them for flooding coped significantly better than those that did not.
“We’d like to help underwriters and brokers by offering them a concise 3 step guide to flood planning for businesses, which they are free to use to support their policyholders and clients.”
The ‘3 step guide flood plan for commercial policyholders’ guide can be downloaded by clicking on the link below.
