Last year to the day FloodFlash rapid-payouts were called into action after Scottish floods impacted on Stonehaven. This blog, which originally appeared in the FSB Insurance Service website details how it happened…

Scottish floods of 2021: one victim’s story

Background to the Scottish floods

This time last year torrential rain and storms across Scotland dominated the headlines. Extensive flooding caused huge amounts of damage to property across the country and sadly also lead to loss of life. Brokers and their clients were already working hard to keep their businesses afloat after COVID-19 lockdowns and closures that were on and off throughout the year.

One such business was Trouper’s Bar in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, headed up by Simon Cruickshank. Working in the hospitality industry had never been tougher, and Troupers was about to suffer another blow, this time from flooding. The property was subjected to heavy rains and sustained damage to flooring and fixtures. And all this just four weeks after reopening from COVID-19 closures.

The difficulty of finding flood insurance

Rewind 6 months and you might expect this event would have caused huge disruption to the business. The reason? Simon was struggling to find any cover for his flood risk. He reached out to his broker at FSB Insurance Service about getting cover, just as he had for any renewal previously. Unfortunately this time around no insurer was offering a quote for commercial flood insurance. The great irony of the situation is that he couldn’t get traditional cover because he was considered to be in a ‘high-risk’ area – i.e. exactly the sort of business owner that would want flood insurance.

When traditional insurance turned its back on Simon and his business, Andy, the advisor at FSB Insurance Service stepped in. He recommended that they pursue a quote with FloodFlash, adding that onto the standard business insurance that was being agreed without the flood element.

Setting up the FloodFlash cover, choosing trigger depths and payout values

The first thing to consider when buying a FloodFlash policy is where to place the sensor. Simon and Andy discussed the question and decided the best place was the front of the building. This was both the most likely place to flood, and also near the front door so it was easy to make comparisons to what impact external flooding would have to the interior of the property.

The next thing to consider was trigger depths and the associated payout values. That’s because when the sensor detects flooding at the selected trigger depth, that begins the claim. Once again, Andy and Simon discussed the options, including what was most important to protect – including building, fixtures, furniture and business interruption. Simon opted for a multi-trigger policy. The policy set up so that flood water would trigger the first payout when it reached 20cm. If the water reached 30cm then the policy would trigger another payout because there would be more damage to the property.

A FloodFlash claim in action during the Scottish Floods

During extensive flash flooding, certain rainfall gauges in Aberdeenshire registered rainfall in excess of 50mm per hour at the peak of the deluge. As a result, early in the morning on August 12^th, both Simon’s trigger depths were met by floodwater. He was alerted by email that the claim was underway that day – all he had to do was provide bank details for the payment. By the following morning, Simon had received the full claim payment in full. That speed of payout meant that not only did he not need to dedicate his time to chasing his insurers as many do after a flood, he also had a head-start on booking recovery services.

Simon commented on his claim: “Very impressed with Instant payment, I didn’t need to make any contact. FloodFlash delivered what they promised.”

Andy, the broker responsible for sorting the policy out for Simon. “Wow, just wow. If only everything was as quick and easy as this. FloodFlash were determined to settle this with zero hassle and they did. Thanks to the team at FloodFlash for making the difference. “

To find out more about more about our award-winning commercial flood insurance, visit our homepage. Or, if you want to find out more about our award-winning claims, click here.