Flash Flood Basics: Protecting Your Business

When flash floods occur, several businesses can get shut down for days, weeks, or even months. Some common effects of flash floods on businesses include structural damage, loss of valuable documents, inventory, data stored on flood-damaged computer drives, and damage to costly company vehicles or machinery that can cost up to thousands of dollars to repair or replace. 

Because of the severity of this phenomenon, it is important the business and individuals take all the legal precautions necessary to protect their livelihood. 

What Is A Flash Flood?

Frequent or slow-moving thunderstorms, along with the heavy rains that accompany tropical storms and hurricanes, can result in flash floods. 

As the name suggests, flash floods can develop extremely rapidly, often within a 6-hour time frame of the storm that initiated the process. Flash floods are quite unpredictable and incredibly dangerous – the rushing water is powerful and uncontrollable and can swiftly rise to 30 feet or higher. 

Protecting Your Business from Flash Flood

Taking advance measures to protect your business from a flash flood can significantly reduce the amount of damage it causes. Here are some things you can do to protect your business from a flash flood. 

1. Prepare your building – Install backflow prevention check valves to prevent floodwater from entering at sensitive points. Consider installing flood shields to stop water from seeping through windows, doors, ventilation shafts, and any other opening.  Also, get watertight walls built in areas that may be prone to floodwater.

2. Create an emergency plan – Include a flood disaster plan in your health and safety plan which should include evacuation routes. Make sure to account for employees who may require special assistance in the event of a flood.

3. Have backup systems – Ensure that you have backup systems ready for use during emergency situations. These include portable pumps to remove floodwater, battery-operated emergency lighting, etc.

4. Update your insurance – Add flood insurance to your insurance policy and include insurance for business interruption and lost revenue in the event of flooding. This will allow your business to recover quickly from financial losses caused by a flash flood.

Remember, with a comprehensive plan and appropriate preparation, you can minimize the damage to your business and ensure the safety and health of your employees. And most importantly, with the right planning, your business operation can resume normally in very little time after a flash flood.

Sia Insurance Group offers comprehensive risk management insurance for businesses. Get in touch with the firm at Woodridge, Illinois for a consultation today and ensure that your business is properly insured against the risks posed by a flash flood.