Householders across the UK must prepare now for future extremes of weather by creating flood plans to protect their properties, says the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
The organisation – which sets standards in the land, property and construction industry – is urging the public and businesses alike to sign-up to receive regular flood warnings on their properties by registering with the Environment Agency, as the first step in their flood-protection plan.
Alan Cripps FRICS RICS Associate Director, Built Environment said: “Over the last decade, we’ve experienced at least one serious flood per year, and as our climate continues to change, we can expect to see further extreme weather. Even those that are currently in ‘negligible’ flood risk areas should consider making a flood plan as their ‘risk’ could change in the near future.”
Just like health and safety or fire evacuation plans, RICS says a flood plan needs to be a written document that outlines how you as a householder or business will respond to a flood, starting with ensuring you have suitable temporary flood protection materials. These include door and window guards and watertight air brick covers to act as flood barriers, together with large sturdy purpose-made plastic containers to protect goods/furniture. If you are a business, it’s worth listing the location of such materials in your plan, as well as details of where the taps for your gas, electricity and water are.
Important contacts such as your local authority emergency services, insurance company and relevant tradesmen or building services need to be included too. Businesses should also list their suppliers’ details to notify in the event of a flood and evacuation contacts, particularly for staff that may need special assistance exiting a flooded building (such as the elderly, deaf or blind.)
Alan adds: “Those in flood risk areas need to make flood resilient measures a priority in their plan too; these include ensuring walls, floors, service intakes and drains are upgraded to protect a property from flooding and make it easier to clean and dry out in the event of any floodwater entering.
“Walls can be strengthened by adding closed cell insulation, whilst tiled floors can be made more robust by ensuring the grout and adhesive is waterproof, and wooden floors can be chemically treated to protect from floods and decay. Adding a non-return valve in the sewer pipe will also close the waste pipeline automatically when backflow occurs. It’s worth raising any vulnerable elements including electrics above the expected flood level too.”
The Government recently announced that grants of up to £5,000 are now available – via local authorities - to householders and businesses affected by Storm Desmond and Storm Eva, to enhance repairs by adding resilience measures to protect their property from future floods.
Alan adds: “A chartered surveyor with experience in providing flooding related services and advice will be able to recommend suitable flood defence solutions to householders and businesses, and arrange and supervise any required works. He/she is also able to manage insurance claims in the event of flood damage and provide reports for insurers or mortgage lenders.”
Insurance claims for damage caused by floods so far this winter will reach £1.3bn, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has said, with the average insurance claim for damage costing £50,000, well above the average of £31,000 for the storms of winter 2013-14.
Alan commented: “Reinstatement works, such as ordering and installing a new kitchen and repairing and redecorating a flood damaged property may run from a few weeks to several months, which can be extremely stressful. So it’s better to seek advice from a local chartered surveyor and ensure you have an effective flood plan in place, rather than suffer the devastating and costly impact of flooding to your home.”