Do you operate your business in an area susceptible to flooding? Among other areas, Southern B.C., Calgary, Saskatoon, Montreal, and Yukon are experiencing floods due to extreme weather changes. Flooding is Canada’s most expensive natural disaster. The Government of Canada claims it costs at least CAD$1 Billion to recover and restore homes, property and infrastructure – this excludes the damage that it causes to businesses.
It requires a strategic communication plan to prevent flooding from destroying your property and valuables. An effective and proper plan is developed by engineers, architects, construction managers, flood experts and educators to ensure your commercial property can be restored. In order to construct a risk-mitigation strategy, information must be documented as accurately as possible.
CatIQ’s Canadian Catastrophe Conference discussed flood risk management all over the map. Three topics were considered to suggest to Canadians how the whole-of-society can enhance resiliency to assess and mitigate risks, respond, prepare and recover from natural and human-induced disasters:
- Risk Information
- Gather concrete mapping of floodplains, sewers, earthquakes and ice storms. Provide risk mitigation strategies.
- Community Empowerment
- Educate the community on a designed risk strategy by sharing the best practices and providing emergency training exercises.
- Natural Disaster Response
- Prepare resources and supplies, identify the links in the supply chain, real-time updates and strategic resource placement.
Flood Mapping
Flood mapping is mainly produced by the federal, provincial, municipal and Indigenous governments. The purpose of creating an interactive flood map provides Canadians with high-quality geospatial and scientific data to advance flood hazards in Canada. A flood map allows emergency response decisions to be made based on crucial information. Building a strategic plan should focus on long-term solutions, not short-term solutions. Ensure you have accurate and up-to-date information on the elevation, proximity to water and the chances of storm surges. Flood mapping can demonstrate to Canadians how susceptible areas can become flooded within the next 80 years.
Why is this important?
Flood maps provide a general overview of when and where land can be built by providing a solid foundation for land use planning and government decision-making. Having a flood map will enable property owners and other commercial businesses to plan ahead by making an informed decision related to flood risk.
Gather as many resources to develop your flood risk mitigation plan.
Emergency Management Practices
The Emergency Management (EM) framework has been developed to save lives, and protect property and the economy. Canada joined the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in 2015 to seek knowledge, experience and capabilities to strengthen resilience. This is achieved through educating the public about the resources available to prevent and mitigate disasters.
Your employees should be educated on the risks that may impact the money, time and energy spent on regaining your business after a disaster. Canadians need to come together to create new ways of reducing disaster risks. Doing so provides people opportunities to spread awareness by starting new conversations. With that, fostering innovation encourages people to collaborate and work together to find solutions.
Take the time to set up a meeting with your peers to ensure your business can recover from disasters such as flooding.
Resources and Supplies
Your business and your life are at risk if there is an impending flood event without the necessary resources and supplies. Although finding tools and equipment to mitigate flood impact at your commercial property can be costly, it will save you so much more in the event a flood is near.
How expensive is flood-recovery?
Flooding is caused by rain, ice jams, coastal storms, onshore winds and runoff from snowmelts. Abbotsford, B.C. was severely flooded in November, with a rehabilitation cost of CAD$120 million. With reconstructing the city, future upgrades and other infrastructure is as much as CAD$3 Billion. Besides sediment removal, road and landslide repairs and emergency support services, flood recovery also provides financial aid to Canadians and businesses. However, the cost of flooding recovery is not only measured in dollars. Abbotsford is expected to finish the flood-recovery process in two to three years. A long recovery period can cause an interruption to your business. Talk with our brokers at Fuse Insurance to understand what insurance you need to mitigate the impact of flooding by preparing your business for a flood.
Need anti-flooding tips? Read more: Anti-flooding Tips for Spring
What does this mean for your business?
Flooding takes a significant toll on small to medium enterprises that may not have insurance to cover the damages. Floods are more burdensome when there is no proactive mitigation to reduce the impact. There have been significant losses due to floods that result in a large share of total economic losses. Educating the public about losses caused by a business interruption is urgently required in order to prevent significant losses. In the event of a loss, it would be highly expensive and time-consuming to recover your business without the help of insurance.
Read more: How Business Interruption Insurance protects Your Business
Business interruption insurance can provide coverage for the income lost when your normal operations are interrupted or stopped altogether. With cities declaring a local state of emergency due to flash floods, business interruption insurance will allow your business to continue operating while your business is undergoing a rebuild or helping to maintain its stability long-term. Once there is a threat of flooding in your area, you will not be able to add on this coverage to your insurance package, so it is best to inquire about flooding insurance when there is no risk of immediate danger to your business.
Read more: How Actual Loss Sustained (ALS) Works in Business Interruption Insurance
Business Interruption and Why it’s Important
Your business will be less affected by flooding if you install the following equipment:
- Flood panels
- Floor drain protection
- Water-filled flood-barriers
- Wind-driven rain and hail protection
- Survival kits
- Emergency vehicle kits
Canadian Safety Supplies offers kits and emergency tools ranging from food and water rations, to rescue blankets and jumper cables.
Flood Break offers passive flood protection by protecting your business for decades to come.
With this information, you may need to reevaluate or develop your flood risk mitigation plan if you want to protect your business.
Whether you own commercial property or your business is remote, the experienced brokers at Fuse Insurance are here to provide customized insurance programs to fit the unique needs of your industry. Our online quote application is quick and easy and provides the information we need to get your insurance policy in your hands as soon as possible. To start your quote now, fill out our form online or call 1-866-387-FUSE (3873).
