The Flood Preparedness of Businesses | SERVPRO® of Western Dutchess County

10/29/2019 (Permalink)

Having a flood plan in place for your Dutchess County commercial building is a priceless investment of time!

For those who own businesses in Dutchess County or any county, practicing flood preparedness is a good investment of time. Though many underestimate their risk, it has been reported that all but 10% of natural disasters involve floods. Therefore, even those who do not think they would normally be at risk are wise to prepare.

Safety is the most important part of preparing for a flood, but it can also be helpful for your business continuity, too. By being prepared and preserving the right documents, you can work toward reopening much more quickly.

How Flood Preparedness Works for Businesses

Making sure your business is prepared might feel like a lot of pressure, which is why we’ve pooled some helpful tips and resources for you to access:

• Locate your business utilizing FEMA’s Flood Map tool, which will show you your average risk and historical flooding information.
• Take note of the list below to determine what documents would be helpful to preserve.
• Communicate the guidelines of your official Emergency Action Plan with employees so they are educated and prepared.
• Schedule emergency evacuation drills regularly and post maps of evacuation routes near exits.
• Discuss your insurance coverage with your agent—many business policies require flood insurance to be an add-on.
• Keep your emergency kit in the office fully stocked and up to date.
• Elevate computers if possible before evacuation.

Preserving Helpful Documents

Keeping the right documents secured in an offsite location will ensure you have all the paperwork you need once the time to reopen comes. Here are some wise ones to copy:

• An outline of every task that must occur for reopening to happen
• Phone numbers of any third parties you should check in with—staff, vendors, etc.
• Your insurance agent’s phone number, a copy of your policy (and flood policy, if you have it)
• The guides to recover the backed up computer files
• Information about any outstanding loans, leasing agreements and other bank records

SERVPRO of Western Dutchess County offers a FREE all-in-one resource to help organize and easily maintain all the important info for everyone to access at their fingertips. Call us today and ask about our Emergency Response Plan, we'll take care of it for you!

If your business has experienced a flood, we are always here to help. Call us ²⁴⁄₇ to get our team of professionals to your business quickly so you can get back on track.