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Ep 42 - The Impact of Flooding, How to Manage the Risk and Supporting Schemes with Mary and Kelly
49 Plays8 months ago
In this episode of SurveyBooker Sessions, host Matt Nally explores the critical issues surrounding flooding, featuring expert insights from Mary Long- Dhonau from Flood Mary and Kelly Ostler-Coyle, Head of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement at FloodRe. Both Mark and Kelly are extremely knowledgeable and passionate about flooding, it's impacts and solutions.
The episode delves into real-life experiences, insurance, flood risk, recovery processes, and preventative measures. With a focus on helping individuals and businesses better understand and prepare for flooding, this episode offers invaluable advice and resources.
Key Points:
Understanding Flood Risk: Insights into current flood risks and their impact on communities, including surface water flooding and climate change factors.
Flood Recovery Process: Detailed explanations of the recovery stages post-flood, insurance implications, and personal anecdotes on handling the aftermath.
Preventative Measures and Resilience: Discussion on "Build Back Better," flood defences, and practical steps homeowners can take to protect their property.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to SurveyBooker Sessions Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to SurveyBooker Sessions. Tune in to hear from people working in a range of industries and roles to provide you ideas that you can take away and use in your own business. I'm your host Matt Nally, the founder and director of SurveyBooker, which is the leading CRM and survey management system for surveyors.
00:00:14
Speaker
On this week's episode, we're talking everything flooding, which is going to be really interesting one for me having been through
Experiences and Impacts of Flooding
00:00:19
Speaker
the process. um And on this week's episode, we've got Mary from FloodMary and we've got Kelly, the head of communications and stakeholder relations at Floodry. So Thank you for both coming on. um you want to start by giving yourself a full, more interesting introduction than I've just given?
00:00:33
Speaker
um Thanks. I'm really pleased to be here, Matt. So um thank you for inviting Mary and I. um As you said, um I um head up the comms function in Flood Re.
00:00:44
Speaker
I've been here for nearly four years now, which has gone really quickly. But my journey with flooding started when I worked for the Association of British Insurers,
00:00:56
Speaker
um back in the 2007 floods. And um I spent a lot of time up and down the country um with householders, insurers and loss adjusters at the time.
Personal and Community Challenges During Floods
00:01:08
Speaker
um And it's because of the huge disruption that was caused throughout the whole country in 2007, that flood re was then set up.
00:01:20
Speaker
um And so flood re was set up to um make the flood insurance part of a home insurance premium more affordable and available.
00:01:31
Speaker
So that's awesome. And what about yourself, Mary? Well, I've been flooded on many occasions myself. In fact, um come 24 years ago right now, my house was in the same state as yours is now, Matt.
00:01:46
Speaker
It was all the plaster had been knocked off and the floors pulled up and the the dryers and dehumidifiers were in there doing their job. um So but when I was flooded, there was no help, no support, no advice available at all.
00:02:01
Speaker
And one thing that I did realize and learned very quickly is that everybody's got stuff going on in their lives and then flooding can often break them. And, you know, just and I know Kelly's heard these examples before, but they're fresh to you. Just in my near neighborhood, I'd just been diagnosed with a severely autistic son of three years old.
00:02:24
Speaker
And to put that into context, he's now 27 and has the mental capacity of a small toddler. So that's what we were dealing with. And we lost, we'd just converted his playroom and we lost all his toys the floodwater.
00:02:38
Speaker
Next door was an agoraphobic and she had an open plan living room, down kitchen, dining, ah living room. And um she was flooded throughout with a very thick carpet of poo all the way through.
00:02:54
Speaker
And she was forced out of her house and had a nervous breakdown. And further along the the road was an elderly lady that had just come back from her husband's funeral that day. And she'd had the sort of wake at home, had the photographic albums open, left them open on the coffee table, went to bed and that night was flooded.
00:03:15
Speaker
So three different people in the same street. Now you can magnify that by the flood that Kelly was talking about. when 55,000 people were flooded.
Resources and Support: Flood Mary Initiative
00:03:26
Speaker
And so since that time, I've done my best to really get as much advice, sort of dump it basically on my Flood Mary website, um just so people, if they are flooded, can go onto it and find a recovery guide.
00:03:41
Speaker
If they're thinking about Build Back Better, there's guides on there on on all the products that are available, and also a book that I've written which was supported by Floodry and the Environment Agency, travelling around the country to talk to people who have made adaptations to their home to make them flood recoverable.
00:04:02
Speaker
I think you make a really, really good point there, Mary. um I think um when it comes to flooding, it affects every part of your life. It's not just having the right insurance in place to be able to um dry out your house and get back in.
00:04:19
Speaker
It's about everything that's disrupted and it's boom probably one of the most traumatic experiences you can go through. i mean, we know that there's a real limit in rental properties at the moment.
00:04:33
Speaker
So if you have a whole village that's flooded and people have to move out of their homes, they're often moved an awful long way away. from their schools, their works, their communities, their support systems, as well as having to deal with the normal things that life is throwing to to the average person. So being prepared for a flood is one of the you know the top things if you're in a flood risk area.
Flooding's Comprehensive Impact on Life
00:05:01
Speaker
So one thing that I always say is that your home is your sanctuary. It's somewhere that after a long day at work, you can shut the door and you feel safe and to have it violated, as you know, by filthy, stenching flood water, it it can break a person really, not knowing, you don't get given a handbook.
00:05:23
Speaker
Well, hopefully if you go to my website, we'll give you a handbook, but you know you just don't know which way to turn. And as Kelly said, you know yeah finding somewhere to live, again in 2007, many people lived in in their caravans on their drives for two years, two years. It's bad enough when you go for a week on holiday, you're just about killing the rest of your family at the end of that week. But two years of it is just awful.
00:05:53
Speaker
And the floods happened in July where the weather's quite nice. But actually by the time it got to December and people were trying to cook a Christmas dinner and live with their whole families in a small caravan, it's just unthinkable really. Yeah, the novelty's worn off completely by that point.
00:06:08
Speaker
ah I agree with what both of you have said. It's um yeah, you start to see what people are going through because you start hearing the stories of know what else they're dealing with. We had the same thing, you know people with health issues nearby and and yeah they just found out stuff like that.
00:06:22
Speaker
um But you're right, the disruption actually moving can be quite hard, particularly if you've got pets. That's an interesting one. You've already got a shortage of rental properties. Suddenly everyone's going for them. And then also you've got to try and find somewhere that's also willing to take
Assessing Flood Risk and Challenges
00:06:34
Speaker
pets on top. And that adds another layer of ah of interest.
00:06:37
Speaker
um And there's so many different things going on at that point. You're trying to find somewhere to live. You've got insurance to deal with. Hopefully you've got, you had insurance, you loss assessors, loss adjusters, all these different people, different um things they're trying to do.
00:06:51
Speaker
um So yeah, so lots to deal with. but I think across the episode, there's probably three key things we'll look at. One is like, what's the actual current status of flood risk? um And what are the realities around flood risk versus just a risk map online?
00:07:06
Speaker
um What are the realities of flood recovery? Because that's ah completely different to what you'd potentially see on the news. or Obviously, it's a flashpoint in the news and it gets forgotten about. um And then, yeah, build back better and flood defense and how you actually protect yourself. So should we start with the current flood risk in the UK? I mean, I know you mentioned 2007, obviously, it was a massive one. And we're seeing we had the stuff in September. There was another one recently um where like the camera was all back out for stuff going on.
00:07:33
Speaker
um ah Yeah, how many properties are at risk and and how much does it really tie into a flood risk map online that you see? Well, I think the real picture is really, really hard to see.
00:07:44
Speaker
um But we we know that from research that g JBA consulting have done and also the Environment Agency have just revised their figures that one in four households in the UK are now at risk of flooding. One in four.
00:08:00
Speaker
When you think about that, that's a really, really high number. And I just don't think the average person really thinks about flood risk when they're moving home.
Housing Development and Flood Risks
00:08:10
Speaker
um In terms of flood maps, what's really difficult now for us to looking at is surface water flooding.
00:08:20
Speaker
And we're getting more and more of that. um A couple of years ago, we saw in London where it came and the rain came down really quickly, the drains couldn't cope, and you had lots and lots of properties and flooded with surface water um flooding.
00:08:34
Speaker
And one of the big things that's causing that is that we're um paving over driveways, We're putting astroturf down. We're putting home offices in our gardens. The more green space that is taken away and concreted over, the higher that flood
Flood Risk Management Legislation
00:08:50
Speaker
risk goes. The the water has to go somewhere.
00:08:53
Speaker
We are an island full of river rivers. yeah We have water everywhere and we have to live with that water. That water was you know has to go somewhere and the weather's getting wetter.
00:09:05
Speaker
So flood risk. is one of the big risks at the moment to the uk and it is only going to get worse unfortunately i couldn't agree more with kelly that that there were 4.6 million people according to the environment agency now at risk of surface water flooding and that's where you haven't got a stream or a river or the sea that's really just caused by too much rain and due to climate change clouds at the moment are between seven and eight percent heavier than they used to be and when they're heavier they're moving slower so we regularly see and it angers me that we're called now calling it a month's rain falling in a day because that's becoming too too regular to call it a month's rain falling in a day but let's go back to a month's rain falling in a matter of hours so it hits all the all the sort of things that Kelly described the
00:10:00
Speaker
the concrete, the tarmac, the paved over drives, and it hits the ground running. The drains soon become overwhelmed. They're sort of woefully inadequate to deal with that amount of rain. Now they were built, most of them were built before we got so much development.
00:10:19
Speaker
So they hit the ground running. And so they're entering our homes and people that are um ah even people that live on the hills. can flood.
Complexities of Flood Recovery
00:10:28
Speaker
I've been in many flooded properties in West Yorkshire, for instance, on steep hills that have been flooded. And that's really sort of overland runoff.
00:10:37
Speaker
And somebody told me that a skip was passed ah ah parked outside their house and a skip parked, you know what I mean, dumped outside their house. You imagine people driving skips, but outside their house. And so the flood, the overland runoff due to the amount of rain was going down the hill, hit the skip, took a quick ah right hand turn through their front house. And they were sat eating supper through their front door and out of their back door before they even knew what was happening.
00:11:04
Speaker
And they were nowhere near a river. And that kind of thing happens very regularly. It happened to a near neighbor of mine. Again, a car was parked over the drain and the rain took a shot right through a hedge and into a house.
00:11:17
Speaker
And I suddenly got her rapping on my door saying, thank God I live near and met flood. Mary, come and help me. And that's what was happening to her. think what's really, really important to mention here is as well as everything that Mary and I have just talked about, we've got a real shortage of homes.
00:11:37
Speaker
And we know we need more homes built. The government has a very ambitious house building target of 1.5 million new homes. and And if those homes are built, even if those homes are built with flood resilience in mind, which one of the things that we're really calling for the government to take into account, it's the knock on effect. You build a new estate where that,
00:12:05
Speaker
um was soaking up water up with green land, that then might, and we've seen it time time again, push down to a village that has never flooded before. So so the the rain goes elsewhere, the water will find a way and it has to go somewhere. So we've got a real challenge at the moment where we have a need for housing, we've ambitious house building targets, we've got climate change um and we've got a huge
Insurance Challenges Post-Flood
00:12:35
Speaker
need for
00:12:36
Speaker
um extra flood defences as well as, and this is really, really important, the maintaining the flood defences that we already have in existence. Yeah, and I can just add to that by saying that in 2010, we had something called the Floods and Water Management Act that came into law, but Schedule 3, which sort of basically insists that sustainable urban drainage is put into new developments and basically they mimic nature.
00:13:04
Speaker
to make sure that that new development doesn't make flood risk worse elsewhere has not been enacted yet. So it's not happened yet. So we do get new developments where if you can imagine all the new houses with the runoff from the rain, the rain falling off their roofs, going straight into the drainage system and and they have to um leave the development in two pipes, the rain and the foul.
00:13:31
Speaker
But quite often, a few hundred meters down the road, they go into the combined sewer. And that's combined sewer is becoming overloaded, hence more flooding. Oh God, we're doomed, aren't we?
00:13:45
Speaker
But hopefully we'll come on to solutions later. um Yeah, I mean, it's funny you you mentioned, well not funny, but it it ties in that you mentioned around surface water flooding being the highest risk because that's um the one my the house property was affected by.
00:13:57
Speaker
um And it's exactly the point you make around drives being concreted over. I think I read a stat
Homebuyers and Flood Risk Assessment
00:14:05
Speaker
online that said something like one in seven or one in nine. I was looking at it going, there's way more than that near us that are turning from yeah ah gardens into driveways.
00:14:14
Speaker
um and And exactly that, where' where does the water go? goes for us onto the road. um And the issue with that was the drains weren't maintained. and yeah So therefore the water, again, that couldn't flow away.
00:14:25
Speaker
it had to go to the lowest point, which was at lot of the houses. um i suppose with that, if you're... either a homeowner currently, or you're looking to buy somewhere or a surveyor trying to advise someone and you're looking at these, I don't know, surface water flood risk maps.
00:14:42
Speaker
how How can you tie that into other factors? Like what other factors do you need to consider like overbuilding or drains maintenance? And how do you find out about that to see what's the reality of risk Because you might have low risk in terms of flood water, but actually if the drains aren't maintained, the reality is it's probably higher because it's got nowhere to go.
00:14:58
Speaker
um is there Is there a way at the moment of finding that out?
00:15:03
Speaker
Ah, difficult question. Really difficult question. Yeah. Can just answer tell you one thing that when the 2007 floods, I know we harp onto that, but it was a huge issue.
00:15:14
Speaker
Many of the residents in Gloucester were saying the drains weren't maintained and had they been maintained, we wouldn't have flooded. So they did a study after that and it was proved that even if the drains due to the sheer volume of rain falling,
00:15:31
Speaker
Even if the drains had been cleared and running freely, those houses will have still flooded only by a little bit less. So a lot of people think that had the drains been maintained, we wouldn't have flooded.
00:15:45
Speaker
But quite often, that is not the case. There's too much rain falling for those drains to to absorb it anyway, and then compounded by the hard surfaces.
00:15:56
Speaker
So it's not always the block drain. Sometimes it is, but not always. I suppose it's easier to make a look. Yeah, and you see we see all the water around them, someone unblocks it and it goes, you can go, well, that would have solved it. But you're right, it's instantaneous volume.
00:16:11
Speaker
Yeah, and also, if you think as well, if you have a bath, is that, I don't often do that, showers nowadays, but you have a bath and you pull the plug out, the water doesn't go straight away, does it? You don't say a bath's blocked, it goes slowly down the hole. And it's the same with drains. if when you've got an awful lot of water and you see that sort of puddles right across the road and then you go back an hour later and it's actually gone because it just, it just, there's a little, know, the drains are quite small bearing in mind the amount of water. So always think of your bath plug, but certainly maintenance of drains would would help reduce flood risk, but it's only part of reducing flood risk. But, you know, with regard to your question, you can get,
00:16:57
Speaker
when you when you get sent by your house, you do get an environmental report within it. And a lot of that covers your risk of flooding. But also you can ask your local authority um what the flood risk is. And also a lot of people used to come and knock my door and say, we're thinking of buying the house next door. what you know What's the flood risk like? And are the drains unblocked? And then they cleaned regularly. So really it's local knowledge.
00:17:24
Speaker
look up a local flood action group and contact them because they're an invaluable font of knowledge.
Flood Recovery Length and Complexity
00:17:31
Speaker
I would agree with everything that Mary says, but you you know you can find out your traditional flood risk through the Environment Agency's website and we definitely recommend that as well.
00:17:40
Speaker
And if you're at flood risk and buying the house, sign up for a flood warning. yes yeah yeah, it's not bad. Actually on that note, it's an interesting one. we um I said agreed my my my um other house house, she got a letter.
00:17:54
Speaker
probably a year in advance of the floods. and I can't remember whether it was linked to a well-known um railway project or not, but um because there's drilling going on underneath the house. And um it said that you're no longer in a flood risk area.
00:18:08
Speaker
um But then from an insurance perspective, they were going, nope but nothing's changed on our side. And the flood risk maps hadn't changed either. So suppose there's also, yeah, make sure you check various sources rather than just relying on one particular thing that comes through to make sure you're yeah weighing up all the different information but it was an interesting letter that came out.
00:18:28
Speaker
um Well local local flood risk knowledge is is really a powerful tool, always ask locally. Definitely, I think as a surveyor then obviously that's one of the things you need to make sure when you're looking at properties you are aware of local knowledge not just sort showing outside of your area of expertise when it comes to stuff that.
Stages of Flood Recovery
00:18:50
Speaker
I suppose then in terms of, we yeah, looked at I suppose some of the the risk aspects around flooding, should we should we talk about the realities of flooding and flood recovery? um I know one of the things we talked about before we started this was um you see the news um news reporters going and they sort of say, you know, these people are gonna out of their homes for several weeks. And um I know from my own experience, it's definitely longer.
00:19:13
Speaker
um I suppose that comes maybe a bit later on in terms of drying and build back. what What are the stages when it comes to flood recovery? I can obviously touch on our experience as well, but um obviously stage one is getting flooded and that's the the annoying part. um what What happens after that? i guess is The experience we had was once the drains were yeah cleared finally in terms of the water had gone, we could then start pumping out to those drains.
00:19:39
Speaker
um and and Luckily, the what was really nice is all of the community came together. you know People were in each other's houses, sort scooping water out into gardens and pumping. and um That was a really nice experience. and next day, obviously dies back down to normal. People can't really help you anymore.
00:19:54
Speaker
um You're left to deal with the the aftermath. so what What are the um what the sort of key stages, do you think, in your ah your sort of experience of the many years of looking at floods?
00:20:08
Speaker
Well, first of all, you've got to remember that each insurance company does things differently. And also, we have to say that if it's a surge event, and a surge event is lots and lots of properties, so the whole village is taken out, or in fact, 2007, the whole country felt like it was taken out by flooding.
00:20:25
Speaker
So things go at slower levels. and inches So there's no one answer to that. But generally speaking, it's you sort of get you will inform your insurance company. And they then you'll be contacted by a loss adjuster who, if you're lucky, will stay your loss adjuster for the entire duration.
00:20:44
Speaker
and there's a big surge, you may find that loss adjusters are brought in from other areas. And then you'll you'll they will instruct a stabilizing country ah um company to come and assess the damage and they will pump out the water.
00:21:00
Speaker
um They will take an inventory of absolutely everything that you've got. And also I always advise people um to take photographs and and the the contents of your fridge and your freezer and everything. So you've got that evidence um and um they will then deliver the dehumidifiers. They will clean it.
00:21:20
Speaker
They will sanitize it. and And they will be the ones that keep monitoring whether it's dry or not. Then after that, then when once it's dry. and also, I have to say a caveat. Some some companies say the property is not dry. It's not dry.
00:21:35
Speaker
But actually, originally it was never dry because it's an old property. So there's a bit of arguing to do there that actually this property was never properly dry. um And then then you get the builders and the plumbers and and depending on the level of damage.
00:21:51
Speaker
And and e etc. So it's the drying process, as you know, Matt, is a really, really slow one. Again, you will find and this causes sort of angst amongst communities. You will find a newer house will dry quicker and that people will will say, well, they're back. Why are we not?
00:22:10
Speaker
But it really is. Every house is bespoke to itself. and that And also when you ah you add to that the different processes of insurance companies. So people do slow ah dry down, dry at slower um
Choosing Trusted Builders After Floods
00:22:25
Speaker
processes. So you've got to be aware of that.
00:22:27
Speaker
So you might find, and and often is the case, that ah people are back to normal. And you wonder why you're not. And we have to define normal as well, because it's never normal. um but Far quicker than you. So everybody is different. And then again, it's very difficult to get builders, plumbers, electricians, generally speaking, let alone after floods.
00:22:49
Speaker
And also people can choose to do things in a different way. For instance, you can be paid a lump sum of the assessed damage and then you can employ your local builder and your local untrusted electrician, etc.
00:23:05
Speaker
But if anything goes wrong, the onus is on you. If you stick with your insurance company's preferred provider, then if things go wrong, you can look to your insurance company and say, oi, fix it. This isn't right.
00:23:20
Speaker
So there are two two sort of avenues you can take there as well. So I've given a very general overview of what happens. But each house is different. and ah Just one thing to be aware of with Mary saying that you can take a lump sum and get people to come in do the work yourself.
00:23:37
Speaker
One of the things that we find and that happens after a big surge event, a big flood event is the the cowboy builders that try and take advantage and it's a real problem.
00:23:51
Speaker
And, you know, we, between us, I'm sure we've got lots of examples, Mary, where people have not been, well, they've been left high, but not dry by their builders. And, know, unfortunately, if you aren't using the ones through your insurance company,
00:24:13
Speaker
the you've got no not much comeback.
Stress and Psychological Impact Post-Flood
00:24:16
Speaker
And we know some really sad stories. So ah while it might be and take a little bit lot longer if you're having to wait for the approved ones, it's worth doing that.
00:24:29
Speaker
I absolutely agree. Unless you've got an absolutely trusted builder that you know and has done work for you in the past and you trust them 100% one hundred percent stick stick with your insurer absolutely we've all i mean there's always the examples where you really do know your builder but if you've got someone knocking on your door asking for work you know twice Yeah, but we've seen that with um just things like debates around, does the kitchen need to come out to dry out properly? And you know if if it does, will the kitchen be covered to be refitted? Or is it you're going to have to try and, in a new kitchen, or are you going to try and dodgily refit one that's there and it's not going to go back quite right? And how do you debate that, particularly if you're using own builders versus someone else?
00:25:20
Speaker
But I think one of the things you touched on, the inventory side, um particularly if you're ah being asked to do, you know, write down some of the stuff yourself, that's quite a stress. this You suddenly realize how many different things you've got.
00:25:32
Speaker
And as much as you go I can't be bothered to write half of these down, you add up all of those individual items, you know, 10 quid here, 100 quid there, whatever, suddenly that becomes just quite a few thousand pounds. so you have to do it. But it's when you've got everything else going on around you and it's soaking wet and you're photoing it as evidence. And I don't think we even thought about the fridge freezer, to be fair, at that point.
00:25:52
Speaker
is I can remember as well when it happened to me um that because it was I had a lot of sewage in my house and I just wanted to get the wet stuff out. And one of my kids had a huge collection of Beanie Babies that were the fashion then.
00:26:09
Speaker
And um we put them. I just literally had gloves and put them all in a plastic bag and dump them outside so I could get them out of the property, because the quicker you can get wet stuff out of the property, the quicker your property can start drying.
00:26:23
Speaker
But i remember the loss adjuster making me get on my hands and knees and get every single one out so we could count 40 beanie babies that were all sewage ridden.
00:26:35
Speaker
So it's it's that it's that down to that much detail because say then in those days, each one cost 399. That's 40 lots of 399. And it does, as you've just said, add up. So you literally have to.
00:26:50
Speaker
go through everything that's wet, even though it's so hard to do, isn't it? Oh, yeah. Yeah. You just feel stressed at that point because there's so many things you're thinking about. that It's just if you like the lowest priority.
00:27:02
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I think the other one that's actually um surprisingly stressful is the dehumidifying. um It's constant drone in the background. So if you do decide to stay for a bit, or I say, no, even decide, we um my other half stayed in her place for a bit. um and I stayed there for a bit too, um whilst trying to find somewhere else.
00:27:22
Speaker
And so you you know couldn't move out until you had an alternative, but you've got the the fans and the dehumidifiers running and you dry out yourself. it's ah And plus the noise of it constantly going. it so And the smell. we We chose to stay at home because of my autistic son being very nocturnal.
00:27:39
Speaker
We didn't think he'd be very welcome in a hotel.
Expected Flood Recovery Timelines
00:27:41
Speaker
um But um that we listened to the dehumidifiers and fans, but also the smell that got into the fabric of your house There are no words to describe the smell.
00:27:53
Speaker
um And you've you've got all that. And so I would encourage everybody to move out if they possibly can because of that, the noise, constant noise and the smell.
00:28:04
Speaker
ah Yeah, I agree with that. ah ah what What would you say the realities on timeframes are? I know we touched on this beforehand where you know you you'll get people messaging you go a week later going, you know you're back to normal and you'll see stuff on the news that they'll be out for a couple of weeks. ah what's What's the reality of um the impact of a flood in terms of flood happens and then sort of back to start, back to about not normal, but back to yeah reset, i suppose?
00:28:32
Speaker
I mean, i think the average they say is about nine months, don't they, Mary? But I would i would say prepare for at least 12 months in your head mentally because you just don't know what's going to be found.
00:28:43
Speaker
And it depends on the time a year as well. You know, if you're lucky, well, not lucky, but if you've got, you know, a bit of sunshine and a bit of warmth, that helps with the drying process. If it's like it is now and it's freezing cold and, you know,
00:28:59
Speaker
down winter and down then it's going to take longer so there's lots of contributing factors age of house size of house how your walls are constructed all sorts of things but i think if you look at about nine to twelve months that's around what we hear there's and either side we hear people for 18 months people back in six months but you know if that's what you mentally prepare for i think Would you agree with that, Mary, from your experience? with apple Absolutely would. And I guess, Matt, now, because because you're living the dream, would you agree with that?
00:29:38
Speaker
ah i would I absolutely would. I think we're probably about three months in and we still haven't got to a point of agreeing that it's dried in terms of not us, the contractors and builders and insurance.
00:29:48
Speaker
um and Plus, you've then got to agree on schedule of works and and get built back. I'd i'd be surprised if we're back within six months. um So I think and yeah rental contracts that will will continue beyond that.
00:30:02
Speaker
So yeah, item ah my my guess is going to be about nine months, um hopefully. but ah But you're right, it could extend beyond. But yeah we're at that same point as winter right now. So it's colder, it's damper, it takes longer to dry.
Post-Flood Insurance Challenges
00:30:15
Speaker
um So I'd completely agree with timeframes. I think um ah one question i actually had around that, around once you've had that flood and and you're back in, obviously at some point you'll want to renew your insurance.
00:30:28
Speaker
Is it harder to get insurance if you've been flooded before? And with all the flooding going on, perhaps it's more, yeah we're reading a lot more about it having been flooded and there's the hype recently because there's been further floods.
00:30:41
Speaker
Is there a risk that insurers will start to stop insuring stuff like that with you know more overbuilding and going on? Or is it something they will always provide or it's just become more expensive?
00:30:53
Speaker
So a few questions sort tied into one and Chuck to you there. Shall I take this one, Mary? It feels like it's absolutely in my wheelhouse. It's yours.
00:31:06
Speaker
the reason Floodry was set up is because, you know, in 2007, when we saw those horrific floods and people were then trying to get insurance, we were seeing people either not be able to get insurance be quoted tens of thousands of pounds or have excesses. I mean, I heard of excesses of 20 or 30,000, which essentially you're self-insuring at that point.
00:31:34
Speaker
And so the market was really broken. And then the insurance industry, along with the government, got together and set up floodry. Now, we're lucky in this country, and I say lucky,
00:31:48
Speaker
and flood insurance comes as standard with a home insurance policy that isn't the same across the world um and so most people don't even think about flood insurance it's just part of their home insurance and that's the same you take out a home insurance policy not a flood policy um with the flood re-scheme what it means is if um an insurance company decides that they don't want to take on the risk of your property, and that could be for many, many reasons, and they can pass the flood um portion of that policy over to flood re.
00:32:28
Speaker
And flood ray um sets the premiums based on your council tax band. So it's a flat fee based on council tax band. um And we have a flat excess £250 for flood claims.
00:32:43
Speaker
for flood claims So in theory, people shouldn't have a problem. We do hear one or two and cases that come to us. um Either um they've got um a house that was built post 2009. And I say 2009 because that is when our cutoff for policies is. Any houses built after 2009 are not eligible for flood re.
00:33:15
Speaker
um And the reason is when flood re was set up, the government committed to not building on flood claims and building homes in a more flood resilient way.
00:33:27
Speaker
and Or we have people that live in um buildings with multiple um dwellings within them, so flats, apartment blocks. um or they might have a house that's part of a business um and we don't cover businesses.
00:33:43
Speaker
So for that, we worked with and the British Insurers Brokers Association and the Association of British Insurers. And i think it was about 18 months ago now, we launched a flood insurance directory where you can find a specialist broker that can help you out.
00:34:00
Speaker
And I really do think if you are having any problems at all, Shopping around um on the normal price comparison websites might not be the way for you.
00:34:13
Speaker
um It might be absolutely fine, but going to a specialist broker that can really talk to you about your home and go and place that business is the way to go.
00:34:24
Speaker
is Is that something people are made aware of when they're looking to buy a house in in terms of whether it's pre or post 2009? Does that come up in the
Risks of Building on Floodplains
00:34:32
Speaker
buying process like undercombehancing or anything like that? Is it something people should be aware of or is it not to too important?
00:34:39
Speaker
I don't know if it comes up in the buying process, Mary. Have you got any insight into that? i don't think it does. I'm not too sure at all. It's just when people start to shop around for insurance,
00:34:51
Speaker
And that's a crucial point in the property purchase that you'll find that people can't get insurance and they drop out. just Interesting. ah bit that thatll be I've been an interesting one to explore actually ah set separately to this, but um yeah, i didn't I wasn't aware of that 2009 sort of split. So, but it's great to know.
00:35:11
Speaker
You can't incentivize building on the floodplain. And if you guarantee insurance to everybody, irrespective when the houses were built, you're sort of incentivizing the developer to build on the floodplain.
00:35:24
Speaker
So there has to be ah cutoff point. And prior to flood read, there was sort of memorandum of understanding between the Association of British insurers and the government and that cut off was 2009.
00:35:37
Speaker
So really it was a carry on from that. But my my sort of strong belief is that we have we literally can't incentivize but any building on the floodplain because That's where the river naturally goes when it's full. I don't know about you, Mary or Matt, but um I've been driving around in the last you know couple of months with where we've had flooding or at least a lot of water come down.
00:36:04
Speaker
And you drive around and you see lots of farmland that is flooded. and And you think, well, yeah, that that's where it should be. But then...
00:36:15
Speaker
you see a big developer sign saying new houses being built here soon and halfway up the sign is the flood water. And you think, well, where's that gonna but At what ah what point um are we going to be able to you know capture that water? How how is that gonna work?
Understanding Local Flood Risks When Buying Homes
00:36:36
Speaker
um And I've seen it time and time again, one development not far from where I am now. And i you drive past you think, well, I wouldn't buy a house there. and, you know really expensive houses.
00:36:47
Speaker
And there are pictures on the nets, loads of them, of sort of a development halfway built and it's flooded. And you think, crikey. And also I support, I've been supporting an increasing number of people who have moved into new homes who have been flooded only, you know, a few months later. One moved in um to their very first home, a very young couple in the April and they were flooded in September with storm vivette last year. um i was talking to my MP yesterday and she's she's supporting a young couple with a brand new baby that moved into a new home only to be flooded a few months later. i mean, that's outrageous.
00:37:31
Speaker
Yeah. i suppose I suppose part of the problem is if you don't particularly know the area, someone like yourself, Kelly, you drive past it, you go, wouldn't touch that with the barge pole. But if you're not from the area and it's the right price and it looks nice in summer when it's been completed, um then, yeah, you'd be tempted to go for it. but um When i was looking to buy the house that we're in now, so that's 2011 when i had a small baby,
00:37:56
Speaker
um one of the um houses that we went to see was on a relatively new um ah development in High Wycombe and the development's called Wycombe Marsh.
00:38:08
Speaker
Oh yeah. And I remember going, so where does the river go? Because there is a ah river that goes through Wycombe. They said, oh no, we've just diverted it under.
00:38:20
Speaker
I was thinking, so this is called Marsh because this is the marshland, right? No, i won't buy a house here. the but Unfortunately, lots of people do and have because don't necessarily think, oh, something's called marsh you know, flood way.
00:38:41
Speaker
watery lane watery lane i mean um oh where were we recently i'm sure i was with you mary and we actually went past a flood lane and i thought oh it's telling you it was all there just had to check out um when i was house hunting a few i've been in my home for four years when i was house hunting with my then to be husband and remember on one occasion and this is sort of common sense really if everybody could go with their sort of flood eyes open we we've went to look at a property it was absolutely gorgeous well we didn't look at it eventually because of me and it had a culvert going underneath the road and straight underneath the property and I just refused to get out um because I knew that if say think there was a blockage in that culvert
00:39:36
Speaker
um because you've got something called riparian responsibility, we own that bit of culvert, and we have the responsibility to it, we could have found ourselves a flooded and be having to spend 1000s digging up that culvert to maintain it.
00:39:52
Speaker
So there's lots of sort of things that people should consider, for instance, the flood road and the watery lane. And if there's any nearby streams, Matt, and and culverts and and things like that that open your eyes to the fact you might be at flood risk.
Flooding's Disproportionate Impact on Vulnerable Populations
00:40:09
Speaker
I think, Mary, also, we're so trustworthy, aren't we? yes. Because we think, well, someone's built a house here. It's a new new development. You know, it might be it might be called the marsh, but but they wouldn't build a house here that wasn't suitable and wasn't going to be stood here in however many years' time. But, you know, unfortunately,
00:40:32
Speaker
And it's really sad. You just can't trust all of that. You have to do your own yeah digging around. and and I think what really gets to me and there was a report out by the British Red Cross just before Christmas on flood poverty.
00:40:50
Speaker
And they've done a map of the UK and people that are the most vulnerable are those that can least afford um to be able to cope with floods.
00:41:01
Speaker
So they probably don't have insurance or certainly not contents insurance if they're in rented accommodation and just don't have and the support systems, any extra cash spare, you know, because even if you are going to um have things repaid, there are things that you have to pay out for automatically, you know,
00:41:25
Speaker
if you need to get your kids to school, you have to get them to school. You you can't wait for a payout to get them a taxi or whatever. And that's a real sad, reality that a lot of people that are living at flood risk are those that are least able to cope with it.
00:41:41
Speaker
And I was only speaking with and the Member of Parliament for South Warrington yesterday. um Her constituency have had 140 households in the last couple of months and flooded, and most of them are in the most vulnerable category.
00:41:57
Speaker
And she told me a really sad story of um an elderly lady that had and multiple issues that she was dealing with that walked into her office soaking wet from flood water, not knowing where to even start.
00:42:14
Speaker
And she said the first thing had to do was give her, you know, something dry to put on and a cup of tea. And that's where we're starting from. And i think, you know,
00:42:25
Speaker
and those are the people that we really need to be thinking are we going to build in those areas are we and you know how do we protect where you know you know it's traumatic at the best of times if you have you know a support system whether that be money family etc around you but to have nothing is you know and lots of people that um this this lady that we were talking about yesterday, really, you know, she was suffering from not having full mental capacity to be able to deal with anything.
00:43:07
Speaker
And, you know, and it's those people that need the real
Importance of Personal Flood Plans
00:43:11
Speaker
protection. So sorry to bring it down. no it's true. like oh Flood, unfortunately, is just so traumatic.
00:43:20
Speaker
And it's also indiscriminate. It doesn't care who it floods. It can flood the wealthy and and the poor. it's there's no There's no sort of cut off. Everybody gets flooded. And that's why one of the things I did recently was do a YouTube video on how to prepare for a flood because people don't know how to prepare for a flood.
00:43:40
Speaker
And I used things that just literally lying about the house that might not cost any money just to try and reduce the impact. Things like You know, a couple of Wellington boots on table legs and a bucket and a plastic bin just just to sort of protect the table legs. And then you can chuck things on top, just simple things around the house that can make a big difference to the actual damage.
00:44:05
Speaker
So we have to focus on absolutely everybody and be inclusive, as Kelly's just said. I mean, that video, Mary is absolutely fantastic. And i was promoting it yesterday to many of these.
00:44:18
Speaker
So I'm sure you're going to get lots of people clicking on it. But like Mary said, there there are things that we can do to protect ourselves if we know. yeah i think number one is if you think you are at any kind of flood risk is putting together a little plan of what you're going to do and a list of things that you need to grab and take with you.
00:44:42
Speaker
You know, because you just, what when you are in that kind of um traumatic fight or flight, thinking, oh, I need to um make sure I've grabbed my phone charger is probably not high on the list.
00:44:59
Speaker
I mean, it would be for my children. That would be personal. Yeah. I forget that one. I'm not under pressure. Exactly. yeah i've now I've now reframed because of the Environment Agency and everybody are very um hot on flood plans.
00:45:17
Speaker
I've now reframed it as a to-do list because everybody has to-do lists. Yeah. So I now say when I'm doing a media interview, have a to do list so you know exactly what you're going to do, because let's let's say that we have so hopefully signed up for a flood warning. And actually, the uptake of environment agency free flood warnings, incredibly woefully low.
00:45:39
Speaker
But you've got your flood warning and your mind turns to spaghetti. You think, oh, my God, having lived through it. But if you've got that to do list, you think, oh, move my car because you don't want a flooded house under flooded car. It can bring you to your knees.
00:45:55
Speaker
Literally have a list that's bespoke to your family, your household, your sons, their chargers.
Build Back Better Scheme for Flood Resilience
00:46:03
Speaker
You know, me being older, it being my prescription, my prescription, you'd that I can get me meds and stuff like that.
00:46:11
Speaker
You know, things that are ah really important to everybody. I definitely agree with that. ah Just touch on your point, Kelly, I think around, um there's a surprising amount that you do have to pay up pay out for yourself and then claim back that you just don't think about. I can't think of an example right now because it's been a little while, but um but yeah, unless you've got that cash up front, you're kind of stuck and that you're under that financial pressure then as well. So it's, yeah, it's a tough one.
00:46:36
Speaker
Yeah. Well, um' I thought I was really, really prepared before Christmas Um, I took my children away, um, up to Scotland for a couple of days, came back on the 23rd of December. Um, I thought I prepared lovely.
00:46:50
Speaker
and I lost the whole contents of my fridge and freezer. So I had nothing left. Um, and I think we arrived back about eight o'clock on the 23rd. So 24th of December, and I'm with the world and their wife, replacing everything that's in my fridge and freezer.
00:47:08
Speaker
um And those are the kinds of things you lose with the flood. And you know, you've, you might have all your meals prepared. You might have bought, you've done your monthly shop and, you know, not necessarily have the money to be able to go out and restock straight away.
00:47:25
Speaker
but yeah. So you I take it you had a power cut then? well I did. it was a power cut, not a flood. that But um yeah, just the worst. but fifty
00:47:38
Speaker
The shops are already getting empty at that point, aren't they? was like, it's fine. I'm all good. I'd even made my red cabbage, Mary. was all in the red. Oh, so impressed.
00:47:51
Speaker
I did like a good red cabbage. I suppose on the sort of route we've been taking there, should we touch on flood defense and build back better? And yeah, sort like, I suppose once you are building back, there's the build back better scheme, which we can explain what that is. And then if you haven't gone through you're worried about the flood risk, the types of things you can put in place to, along with to-do lists, things that you can do to sort of, yeah, help prevent an issue arising.
Advocating for Flood-Resilient Homes
00:48:19
Speaker
Should we start with what the build back better scheme is? Is that a good starting spot? Yeah, I was going to Yeah, absolutely. Build Back Better, it's a real change in how insurers are dealing with putting people back into their homes after flood.
00:48:37
Speaker
So flood really got permission from government. and Gosh, it must be coming up to three years ago now. Yeah. to be able to offer Build Back Better. And what that means is an insurance company that is signed up to the Build Back Better scheme is able to offer a household up to £10,000 to put their house back not just into the state it was before, but to improve its flood resilience.
00:49:06
Speaker
So putting property flood resilience measures into a home. And so that could be things such as um non-return valves, smart self-closing air bricks, flood doors, barriers, um water butts in your garden to to collect runoff, um kitchens that are not made of MDF but are able to
00:49:37
Speaker
um be cleaned down um waterproof plasters different floorings all sorts of things and and it's really bespoke to the individual house and what that house needs um so rather than so the principle of insurance is to go back to the position you were before you shouldn't benefit as it were from an insurance claim and But what Build Back Better does is make sure that you are able to be in a better position if floodwaters come again.
00:50:15
Speaker
Now, we're not saying that Build Back Better will keep necessarily all the water out, but it might mean you're able to recover quicker, your house dries out quicker, you're able to you know get back in in a much more timely manner.
00:50:30
Speaker
and One of the um people that um has built that better that we've spoken to, and they were out of their house for about 12 months with a, I think it was a £24,000 bill of flood repairs that the insurance company picked up.
00:50:49
Speaker
The next time, They were back in their house watching TV, I think within 48 hours of the flood. So the flood water still did get in a little bit.
00:51:02
Speaker
But the trauma that's caused and the upset and the disruption was totally minimised. And that is what we should be doing when we're flooded, but also how we should be building houses to cope with flooding.
00:51:21
Speaker
So that, you know, water will go places. We can't stop the water. from getting everywhere. But what we can do is be more prepared.
Improving Flood Resilience Measures
00:51:33
Speaker
I mean, you only have to look at and the Netherlands, probably one of the most flooded wettest countries, but you don't hear about them having floods all in their houses because they've built accordingly and appropriately for their climate.
00:51:49
Speaker
Yeah, and I have to say that um ah one thing I want to ask you, Kelly, if if somebody's flooded this this year, and benefits like Matt from the £10,000 and he floods again next year, can you get the £10,000 again?
00:52:04
Speaker
Absolutely, absolutely. And if there's any DEFRA, EA grant schemes, they can also benefit from that. So if you are flooded the next time, you can then do even more and to improve your house.
00:52:19
Speaker
And how it works, Matt. So say you needed a new door and your the door that you needed was £1,500, for example, but a flood door was £3,000, the Back Better cost would only be £1,500 out of your £10,000.
00:52:40
Speaker
So it's the and additional cost on top. It wouldn't be the cost of the whole £3,000 door. no And also, for instance, if you've got a kitchen, need to replace your kitchen,
00:52:53
Speaker
you would get a cut You will get ah an estimate to replace it exactly as it is, but then an estimate for a flood recoverable kitchen, of which I suffer from um kitchen envy at some of the flood recoverable kitchens that are on the market now.
00:53:09
Speaker
Build Back Better will pay the difference. So you can get a lot of money, lot of stuff for for that £10,000. and And we we know that there's a lot more companies now that are affordable, are making kitchens and other and household items that are flood recoverable.
00:53:35
Speaker
In fact, I think, Mary, we need to get a road trip and in the diary and and go and see the different kitchens available and make sure that we know what's on the market between you and Absolutely. Yes, i've um I did a visit myself.
00:53:51
Speaker
And I'll tell you about it offline to it. And and that's why I've got kitchen envy, because that it was absolutely lovely. And they're they're plastic, and they can literally be washed down, sanitized, and you could be using them again.
00:54:04
Speaker
But before Build Back Better happened, Floodry asked me to sort of gather some evidence. And that's why I traveled around the country, um getting the evidence of people who had build back better or really made adaptations to their homes and some of them were really if you start and think we're talking about the average person out of their home for nine months well some of them were out of their home on Monday Tuesday and Wednesday and watching the telly again on Thursday just because they for me I'm more focused on recoverability so really to ah if the flood water does get in
00:54:44
Speaker
that your home can recover very quickly. And many of the people I talk to, um you know, can be quite deep with with water that's in the home because of the proximity to one of them is called Brook Cottage, another name.
00:54:59
Speaker
And she's got the River Seven behind her and a brook running along the side of her. But because of the amazing moves she's taken, ah she can literally be three foot deep in water. And then and then watching the telly the next day because of the recoverable aspects of our home.
00:55:17
Speaker
So the waterproof plaster, the solid floors.
Affordable Flood Defense Products
00:55:20
Speaker
We obviously are one of my favorite bits of kit of pumps, submersible pumps that I was talking to you earlier about offline that and also puddle pumps so we can keep the level of the water down um and the electrics up the wall and this flood resilient kitchens, lighting fires and coupled with your flood plan.
00:55:40
Speaker
So you know what to do when you get your flood warning that all those combined can reduce the amount of time you're out of your home. Absolutely. I think one of the things we need to probably do a shout out to now as well is things have changed and pretty rapidly.
00:55:55
Speaker
When I started at flood re, OK, it was four years ago, but um about 12 months ago, I was looking online to see how available flood protection products were for the average person.
00:56:09
Speaker
And there was very, very little available. um Roll on now. um Wix, for example, has a whole flood protection page of their website and we're advertising the products on a well-known radio station um recently over the winter period.
00:56:28
Speaker
Mary, that's a massive change, isn't it? Absolutely massive, yes. And you can and self closing air brakes. ah So I've closing air brakes ah um available and and just an air break cover of basic air break cover is 24 quid.
00:56:45
Speaker
And I mean, when you would think if we can, I can sort of always like to put things into it the amount of water, big builders rubble bags. We know how big those are full to the top of water.
00:56:57
Speaker
Five of those every hour can go into a home via the airbricks. So if you've got a self-closing airbrick, fantastic. It will automatically shut.
00:57:08
Speaker
Don't forget you have to maintain them because detritus will get in there after a flood and so will spider's webs and things. So they need maintenance, a bit like our cars or our boilers, but they will they will automatically shut.
00:57:22
Speaker
But you know for 24 quid, you can get um an airbrick cover that will do the same. But you have to remember that the environmental agency flood warnings tend to come at 3.30 in the morning when it's blowing a hooli and you're out there with a head torch on. So you need and you're having to fit in the pouring rain, the airbrick. So obviously Kelly and I much prefer the self-closing ones.
00:57:44
Speaker
And so would you if you were fitting self-closed airbrick covers at three o'clock in the morning in those circumstances. So Matt, we advise you get some. Yeah, no, that's going to be on my list. I think the, um,
00:57:57
Speaker
The air breaks, definitely. but but One of my final questions um around actually that flat flood defense part was, well, two things. One, um is there a reason it's a 10,000 limit, and not limit, but amount? My question there is, um is that if you were looking to do your own flood defense ah work to a property, is that kind of the the average you might want to consider spending? Is that sort of why it's been set as like an appropriate amount in that case?
00:58:26
Speaker
Well, we had to start somewhere when we were starting off with Build Back Better. We've actually put in proposals to DEFRA to be able to up it to £15,000. So hopefully at some point we'll hear from them.
00:58:38
Speaker
um But you can add to it as well. If you have, and if if you're getting Build Back Better done, there's nothing to say that the individual householder can't put more to it. no no And, you know,
00:58:53
Speaker
you it's kind of how long is a piece of string isn't it mary with what you can do i mean we've seen some fantastic products where people have membranes put on the whole of their walls to take flood water down the walls and underneath and divert it out most people wouldn't do that you would do that if you're you know one riverside cottage river way maybe um and you're f flooding all the time um but you know, just by a few thousand pounds worth of work, you can really make your home more flood recoverable.
Professional Flood Resilience Surveys
00:59:29
Speaker
For instance, um again, we were talking offline how um a lot of water comes through the walls. People often say, oh, my my flood protection products failed.
00:59:41
Speaker
But when having watched, um I had all the plaster knocked off in my home and the deep humidifiers were going and I flooded again. And I was able to watch how the water came through my into my home.
00:59:56
Speaker
And I was astounded to see it's like somebody had turned on 30 taps in just one of the rooms that I was in. And it was pouring through the walls. So we actually ended up tanking the walls. But you can and also another very weak but place is where the walls join the floor.
01:00:14
Speaker
And so if you put a ah fillet of slurry, waterproof slurry there, that can reduce the the amount of water that gets in and that doesn't have to cost a fortune and it's it works very well and things like waterproof and breathable mortar and you can get a waterproof sort of cream solution that you can paint over the walls that allows the wall to breathe but slows down the ingress of water and if you couple the waterproof mortar with that with the with the cream
01:00:47
Speaker
they really hugely reduce the amount of water that can get into a house. Now, it it that in the cosmic scheme of things isn't terribly expensive thing to do. It's time consuming, but a good DIYer could do something like that.
01:01:04
Speaker
Interesting. It sounds like there's a lot of solutions out there and obviously what there's no point in asking what's the sort of most appropriate generally because it's completely case specific, isn't it, on on on the on the house and the and the environment.
01:01:17
Speaker
But um ah if ah if anyone was looking to find out more information on what might be the right thing to do, in terms of, I know you guys have both got guides, is um yeah, it would be great if you could sort of point Point us to them in a second.
01:01:30
Speaker
um And then there are there other sources like specific types of advisors that can come around like surveyor types that they can advise on specific properties, what to do.
Resources for Flood Preparation and Recovery
01:01:40
Speaker
Well, yes. um so Syria has a code of practice um which people have to adhere to. So let's go back to the cowboys.
01:01:51
Speaker
So um and SIWEM, the Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management, run a training course now. for people to upskill really like you as a surveyor could upskill to become a property flood resilience surveyor of which there are quite limited people with those skills ah but somebody with the that's sort of got a code of practice certification in property flood resilience surveys and people often come to me and I point them in the right direction of people that have got suitable skills that will come and assess the risk of your property
01:02:28
Speaker
And again, on my website, and I've got the code of practice and and it's it's for householders and people can look through and see or ah have um at the fingertips all the questions they need to ask surveyors.
01:02:41
Speaker
So they will come and basically, in a nutshell, they will give you a prescription of property flood resilience measures that are appropriate to your home. So they may be different to the home down the road, but they're for your home.
01:02:55
Speaker
And then you will, and you certainly get that through the build back scheme, you will have the property surveyed. And then, ah so you don't go, if you're flooded from underneath, you don't go fitting a flood door, for instance, you'd need to concentrate on on groundwater flooding, sump pumps and things.
01:03:12
Speaker
So always look for someone that's suitably qualified to do a survey of your property that gives you the bespoke prescription of products for your property. Yeah, the flood door ends up keeping the water in rather than keeping out.
01:03:26
Speaker
I've heard of that happening. i and um I think other than Flood Re's website, floodmary.com, we've also got the Association of British Insurers have got a guide to and recovering from a flood.
01:03:45
Speaker
And there's the Be Flood Ready website, which has lots of resources. um And the Flood Hub. as well. They have a lot of resources. Awesome.
01:03:56
Speaker
There are a lot of things out there that Be Flood Ready is trying to encapsulate all the resources at the moment um to make sure that people don't have to look too far.
01:04:07
Speaker
But you can't go wrong with Mary's website either. It's a wealth of information. I spend a lot of time on that. Thank you. Oh, That's nice to know. Yeah, that's an impressiveive impressive amount of information on there.
01:04:20
Speaker
But um yeah, but it I really enjoyed chatting through all the different aspects today. It's been really interesting. I've learned a lot more than yeah that i than I've learned already through the last three months. But um yeah, so thank you very much for coming on and and sharing your insights. Really appreciate it. It's my pleasure.