The effects of climate change pose considerable risk to businesses. As the planet heats up, one of the consequences will be an increase in the severity and frequency of floods, which can cause huge damage to businesses’ property, supply chains and bottom lines. They can also threaten human life.
The scale and the cost of this threat is bluntly summed up by the 2022 Climate Change Risk Assessment. Issued by the UK government, the research shows that the cost of climate change is expected to rise to at least 1% of GDP by 2045. Flood damage will be an important player in this increase. If the planet outstrips global warming targets and sets itself on a trajectory to rise by 2 degrees Celsius by 2100, annual damage to non-residential properties by flooding is expected to grow by a staggering 27% by 2050.
Worse still, if the planet moves to be on course to increase by 4 degrees C by 2100, annual damages from flooding to the UK’s non-residential properties could ratchet up by an alarming 44%.
The consequences of climate change are not just part of a hazy and intangible future, either. They have already been felt. After the Storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin rampaged across the UK in 2022, property damage was astronomical, with insurers predicted to pay out a hefty £500 million by the time all claims were investigated.
For businesses to successfully navigate these threats and protect their property, supply chains, employees and customers, real-time monitoring and decisive preventative and mitigation measures are an absolute must.
The flood risk – and its consequences
Sainsbury's recognised the benefits of preparation and forewarning after a catastrophic flood in 2015. Storm Desmond affected several flagship stores, which were forced to close for several weeks. Damage and lost revenue added up to several millions.
In the aftermath of this flood, Sainsbury's recognised that they needed to be more resilient to avoid temporary closures, reduce stock losses, keep people safe and cut the amount of damage caused.
This would include gaining a greater understanding of the number of at-risk locations, which sites had flood defences in place, and the probability of the magnitude and frequency of floods.
They therefore turned to Balkerne’s SmartResilience platform to give them the tools needed to build resilience and continuity in the face of increasing flood threats.
The SmartResilience solution
Balkerne provided an end-to-end solution when it came to building and maintaining the supermarket’s business resilience.
Long-term planning
To begin, our SmartResilience platform provided the tools needed to identify which properties were at high-risk of flooding. By mapping out each location and drawing on historical flood data, these properties were instantly flagged up. This allowed Sainsbury’s to review and prioritise the risks to their stores.
Understanding vulnerability
SmartResilience also enabled them to determine their true vulnerability across their supply chain. With access to current and long-term forecast data, Sainsbury’s was able to determine if any key warehouses and distribution centres were also at high risk of flooding.
Assessment and implementation
Using this information, the supermarket chain could develop informed action plans for risk mitigation. New awareness of their vulnerabilities allowed them to create appropriate emergency, temporary and long-term mitigation plans for the locations most at risk. These plans were then fed into the SmartResilience platform so that a list of essential steps would be made available to all stakeholders should a flood event occur.
Ongoing monitoring
With access to geo-spatial weather trackers, real-time river-level monitoring and links to the latest government warnings, Sainsbury’s is now able to take in flood risk levels at a glance via one easy-to-use dashboard. This has provided greater situational awareness, allowing key personnel to easily identify developing risks and where they will occur.
Automated bespoke flood alerts
A real-time early warning system has also been set up to provide the brand with automatic updates as a flood risk evolves. These are sent via email and text message to key employees so they can take immediate action.
Improved performance
With everything tracked on the system, from the level of threat to the mitigation measures deployed and their outcome, it is now possible for Sainsbury’s to audit their performance. This means that improvements can be found for greater resilience in the future.
The results
Deployment of the solution was swift, with the set-up of the SmartResilience system taking place within just one week, giving Sainsbury’s fast access to the information they needed.
When Storm Eunice struck in 2022, the national supermarket chain was prepared.
Thanks to the early warning system supplied by SmartResilience, the supermarket’s team was alerted to the threat of a flood at Tadcaster 12 hours in advance. This warning was delivered a full seven hours before that given by the Environment Agency.
This advance notice gave the team enough time to deploy flood prevention measures. The flood waters rose to 4.51m, causing flooding to about 60 properties in Tadcaster. However, the Property Level Protection proactively put out by the supermarket meant that just 5cm of water entered the store and virtually no stock was lost. After one day of closure, specialist clean-up teams began work at 6am the following day. The shop was ready to reopen that afternoon.
Flood risk at other sites is also now being proactively managed to reduce disruption and protect against financial losses.
Commenting on the results of the platform, a representative from Sainsbury’s said: “We expect that SmartResilience will continue to improve our resilience and help prevent future financial and operational impacts. The application has already prompted us to put several action plans in place, from long-term flood mitigation investment to enabling sites’ response to evolving flood risks.”
Introduce SmartResilience to your organisation
Easy to use and quick to implement, with a low cost and high return on investment, SmartResilience can equip your organisation with the information it needs to react confidently and effectively in the face of rising flood risks.
If you would like to find out more about SmartResilience and how it works, book a demo of the system to discover how it can benefit your business.
