Disaster planning for floods: don’t get caught without a paddle

Many US regions have long faced the threat of floods, but recently, incidents have increased with alarming frequency.

And there’s good reason to be worried; the casualties caused by flooding are twofold. Property damage and polluted runoff or erosion can significantly destabilize areas around a flood zone, leading to even more safety concerns or repair expenses.

Creating and implementing a preventive maintenance plan can safeguard against the dangerous impacts and costs of flooding.

Easier said than done, right?

But even as this trend looks to continue nationwide, there is a life preserver. If your organization is in a high-risk flood zone, a maintenance management solution can help mitigate potential damage — and save your business valuable time and resources. 

Understanding weather patterns to navigate through the storm

As intense rainstorms and flooding-related incidents from natural disasters increase globally, the consequences can be catastrophic — and quite expensive — for the communities in flood-prone areas.

Research indicates that the price tag of flooding is in the billions:

• According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, flooding has cost over $850 billion since 2000, approximately 66% of all costs associated with natural disasters.  
• Research from a Nature Climate Change study estimates that flooding costs will spike in the U.S. by 26.4 percent by 2050 — from $32.1 billion to $40.6 billion.
• The U.S. Global Change Research Program found that extreme precipitation events have increased in the northeast US by 55% since the 1950s, 27% in the southeast, and 42% in the Midwest.
• Recent studies from the Yale University School of the Environment showed that it will cost $400 billion over the next 20 years to protect coastal flooding communities from flood damage.

With so many communities and organizations operating in or near flood zones, the need for disaster response and recovery plans and preventive maintenance programs are at an all-time high.

CMMS: Your life raft for a sea of uncertainty

Organizations need preventive maintenance programs to not only protect assets but also to boost their longevity. Flooding is just one of the natural disasters that can wreak havoc on your business or organization — especially if you are ill-prepared for a disaster.

To utilize preventive maintenance practices that can mitigate the damage of flooding, maintenance and operations professionals need a solution that can enable them to:

• Effectively conduct periodic inspections for erosion and schedule repairs.
• Schedule and perform preventive maintenance on assets in areas affected by corrosion.
• Periodically check all outdoor assets located near flood zones before and after severe weather incidents.

But implementing facility maintenance management specific to flooding calls for the right platform to monitor, track and properly coordinate maintenance functions to make for seamless flood prevention maintenance.

Computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) digitize records of maintenance history allowing your company to identify the assets that need preparation. CMMS also provides M&O management with the tools they need to quickly access the work and workflow that needs to happen during emergency response scenarios.

Your CMMS solution should enable managers to:

• Issue emergency work order requests or prioritize emergency inspection checklists.
• Appropriately delegate tasks, so technicians aren’t duplicating work.
• Assess your assets for damages and ways to repair them.
• Scale-up post-catastrophe work orders.
• And more

Let Brightly hold your umbrella 

It shouldn’t take a flood to realize the importance of proactive planning. Asset and infrastructure maintenance is critical to your organization’s growth. A CMMS can help you get ahead of the storm.

CMMS software can help you reduce your risk when — and where — you need it most. With the framework of Brightly’s best-in-class CMMS solution, you’ll be prepared before things go wrong.

To learn more about how Brightly software solutions have helped over 12,000 organizations worldwide with business continuity plans for floods, schedule a free custom demo. But for more information on your planning ahead to get your operations ready for tornadoes, fires, hurricanes and more, check out our downloadable Emergency Preparedness Checklist.