Flood and the 3 Rs – Reinstatement, Resilience and Resistance

Mike introduced himself as being originally from Preston, which in his words, makes him a ‘wooly back’ in Liverpool!
Mike set the scene by talking about some of the devastating floods that have hit Carlisle and the impact that these have had to the local community both in terms of the social impact and the property damage they cause. He also told the story of how a goldfish was found on the pitch of Carlisle United’s ground and subsequently became their mascot!
The Environment Agency estimate that around 3.5m residential properties in England & Wales are at risk from flooding, and Mike added that extreme weather events appear to be on the rise most likely due to climate change and the ever-increasing population. In June 2007, we experienced some of the worst floods the UK has ever seen.
A bit of background information on Flood Re was given and how and why it was developed. The previous flood agreement (the flood insurance statement of principles) came to an end and needed a long-term solution in its place. In 2016 Flood Re was introduced. Flood Re applies to domestic properties only and not commercial. It is not a permanent solution and is due to end in 2039 with the aim to return to risk reflective pricing.
Flood Re has been somewhat successful to date. 90% of the market are now on board (which is made up of 60 insurers). There were 150,000 policies in force in 2018. Prior to this only 9% of properties who had suffered from previous flooding could get quotes for flood insurance from 2 insurers, and nobody could get a quote from more than 5 insurers. Now 100% can get quotes from 5 insurers.
Mike’s view was that it is not just down to insurers to tackle the issue with flooding, it is up to all parts of society. When a flood occurs, it is not just the property damage it causes, there is the human cost, such as in 2005 the floods in Carlisle resulted in 4 people losing their lives and 6 people committing suicide due to the stress the flooding caused them. There can also be a social cost as it will live with people for many years and can have a negative impact on their life and relationships.
Mike introduced the 3 R’s, Reduction, Resilience and Reinstatement.
Reduction – reduce the chances of the floods occurring and water getting in
Resilience – reducing the impact that flood damage causes to a property
Reinstatement – how insurers manage the reinstatement of a property once it is flooded
Mike gave the view that we as humans shape the planet to suit us - we are fundamentally flawed due to our instinctive sense of fighting for survival. Therefore, we often choose to ignore the damage we are doing to the planet.
Forests of trees originally covered the whole of the UK. Trees would have absorbed and slowed the run of water and rivers and streams were not contained. As human populations have increased, the land has been shaped in a way to suit us and this can be a contributing factor to flooding.
Flood defences have had to be built, and we saw an example of a large flood barrier that has been built in Keswick. Sometimes however what can be an issue with flood barriers is they will divert the flow of water to other areas.
In the fight against flood Mike suggested the best thing to do is ‘help yourself’, for example by clearing yards, gutters and drains. There is also a need for building companies not to build new properties in flood prone areas.
One area that has seen improvement is flood warnings. Flood warnings are sent out in advance of any anticipated flooding which gives people the opportunity to take action such as putting flood defences in place and taking their belongings upstairs. In high risk flood areas there are now also flood wardens in place.
Next we looked at resilience and some of the measures that can be put in place to help stop the flood damage being extensive, such as toilets and sinks that have valves to stop them backing up, airbrick covers, and using render instead of plasterboard.
Grants were made available by the Government in 2015 to help people build resilience into their property who had been affected by flooding. People could claim up to £5000 but some of these grants were issued too late as repairs had already been made.
Mike said that the biggest risk of flooding is surface water runoff and when the water simply has nowhere to go; he also added that the vast majority of people who experience flood damage are first timers.
One way Mike believes that resilience can be properly embedded is to incorporate it into building regulations.
Mike showed us an example of a flood resilient pub which had bare brick walls and seats made out of brick with cushion covers. When flood water comes in the cushions and contents can be moved from danger and the flood water does not cause any lasting damage. Once the flood water recedes they can open again straight away and pouring pints.
Next we looked at reinstatement. One of the main issues with flooding in the past is everything would be ripped out and disposed of. Plasterboard would be hacked off the walls up to 1.5m, all contents and fixtures would be disposed of and the property would be dried out vigorously. Mike used an example of the floods in 2005 where there was an area of houses that all had very nice traditional fire places. They were all ripped out and put in skips. Members of the travelling community came along and took the fire places and a few months later sold those same fire places back to insurers during the reinstatement works!
Mike believes we need to be smarter about drying and reinstatement. For example, if you completely dry out a building, the plasterer is going to need to wet the walls before they can apply the plaster to them. He now believes that the industry is being smarter with drying and reinstatement and that there is much more science involved now in determining how wet a building is and there are more sophisticated drying techniques that can be applied.
Mike would also like to see the industry dispel the myth of black water. There is an assumption that anything that touches black water needs to be disposed of and ripped out. The issue with black water is that it contains biological pathogens that live in the water. Once the water is removed, the pathogen is also removed. There are also sanitising techniques that can be applied rather than having to dispose of everything.
To highlight effective reinstatement, we looked at an example of a children’s day nursery. They were able to negotiate with a local farmer £500 to pump out the flood water and prioritise the drying and reinstatement to get the business back up and running in a short space of time. This was important as the nursery was an integral part of the local community and there was also a large business interruption claim of around £75k a month.
In conclusion Mike said that in order to achieve risk reflective pricing we need a massive change in our fundamental behaviours. We can’t just keep looking to tackle the issues once the floods have already occurred. Flood Re is not the silver bullet but it is the catalyst to influence change.
The Insurance Institute of Liverpool would like to thank Mike for this very informative and engaging talk.