Storm season is here, and for many homes and businesses around the nation, it can be a worrying time if your property is prone to flooding. Given that Storm Babet in October 2023 caused her home to flood, our Head of Marketing Claire is all too familiar with this feeling. Here, she offers some reflections on the lessons flooding has taught her.
Before I started working for FPS Group and before I had any notion of the world of flood protection and resilience measures, I was quite naïve to flooding. However, in October 2023, our home flooded, and even though we were aware that it could happen, we were not ready. A story I have heard many times over from other homeowners. Since getting flooded, I have learnt a lot, and hope sharing my experience can benefit others.
Be prepared for flooding.
Check your insurance documents, are you properly insured for flooding? Standard policies may not include flood coverage, so they should check if you require a separate flood insurance policy or an additional premium that covers flood damage. Also check if your insurer is signed up to the Build Back Better scheme by Flood Re. Watch this video featuring our CEO Simon Crowther
It is simple to overlook the problem of flooding throughout the summer, but this is the ideal time to act. We raised everything off the floor in our garage using hooks and shelving, so it would be one less location to worry about in the event of another flood.
Be aware of flood alerts and any monitoring systems in your area. We signed up to alerts that let us know when our street is likely to flood. We can also monitor the levels of the nearby brook to see if we need to start actioning our flood plan.
Pack a bag, if your house is flooded and you need to leave then have a bag with some essentials in that you can grab and go, you don’t want to be trying to remember what your family might need if you suddenly must leave your home.
Purchase furniture risers; depending how deep the water is getting into your home, you can use items like bed risers to lift sofas 8 inches off the floor, hopefully keeping them safe from flood water. You can also use cheap wellingtons to put table legs into, to keep them protected from water damage. Solid wood furniture is more resilience to water.
Move cars to higher ground or a safe location before flooding starts, these can often get damaged and can take a long time to sort with insurance companies.
Reach out to your local community and get a team of volunteers whose homes are not at risk to come help lift furniture or help vulnerable people in the community. Use WhatsApp groups to communicate effectively.
If you have pets then plan where they can go if you are unable to open doors for several hours, can you get them out while you still have access outside. If they are staying in the home, ensure they have food and clean water to last a few days.
Futureproof your house.
Consider a Flood Risk Survey, get to understand the risk to your home from water and what mitigation measures can be undertaken to protect your home from flood damage. Prevention is better than dealing with destructive flood aftermath. Our sister company FPS Environmental are experts in domestic and commercial flood risk surveys.
If you can invest in Property Flood Resilience (PFR) items for your home such as flood barriers, none return valves and anti-flood airbricks then do so, these will help to protect your house from water. Things we are considering next are slurry tanking the garage and installing flood barriers.
Do not underestimate the power of a water pump to keep water out of your home, puddle pumps can keep water down to as little as 1mm and can save your floors, walls, and furniture from water damage. Visit www.floodandwaterpumps.co.uk, our leading water pump website for the UK.
If you can, get your electrics raised, the government website recommends at least 600mm above the estimated flood level. Our power was tripped by our dishwasher so ensure any low-down plugs are turned off. If you do not have raised electrics, you might want to consider an external generator to give you power.
Protect Important Items from Floods.
Ensure all your important documents, especially the ones you might need like insurance documents are stored safely, we purchased a waterproof folder to hold our documents. This can easily be grabbed in a hurry.
Keep anything sentimental, irreplaceable, or valuable upstairs and out of reach of any flood water that may damage them.
Post Flooding Advice.
Ensure you have cleaning supplies ready to go, I had to go out to buy everything the day after. Disinfect everything the water has touched and ensure you have plenty of buckets and mops.
Have a supplier of dehumidifiers on speed dial, the sooner you can start drying the better. Everyone will be after dehumidifiers so make sure you are ahead of the game. Our insurance company could not get any to us until 3 weeks after, but they did pay for the ones we hired. We also found out after a few weeks that we should have been using fans to push air around the house as airflow helps to speed up the drying process.
Talk to people, having your home flood can put a huge strain on your mental health, with many people experiencing PTSD post flooding. You are not alone so reach out to family, friends or professionals who can help you process your feelings.
If your house ever floods, hopefully some of these suggestions will come in handy. As always, prevention is the best course of action, so think about getting a survey or PFR items for your house. We would be interested in hearing about any additional best practices you may have for flood resilience.