Working with others during a flood event

Once you have assessed your own situation it is useful to know what others are doing locally.

The chances are you will not be the only business affected by the severe weather and flooding (or the perception of it). You should do as much as you can to develop or support a coordinated response to the situation – this is a more effective way of getting your message across than working on your own. 

Your first port of call should be your local tourism/trade organisation, as they are best placed to co-ordinate a response to the situation and will be in contact with local authorities and agencies. They will be able to produce a thought-out response (supported by facts and figures collated from across the destination) and develop simple messages that are practical and realistic, which you may also want to use with your own customers. Providing a consistent response across a wide number of businesses is going to be far more reassuring to visitors than mixed and conflicting messages.

Working with, and supporting, a lead organisation means that you will find it easier to find out how the situation is progressing and any measures that are being taken to sort out the problem – if they are producing regular briefings, make sure you keep up to date with these. They are also a central source of information and should be able to tell you which facilities are affected, which are still operating and help identify alternative activities for visitors coming to the area.

You should find out:

• What information do they have about the impact of severe weather on facilities in your area?
• What are their plans?
• What messages have they developed?
• Can they help with your communications?
• Can they give you contacts for support (grants, suppliers etc)?
• Where are they posting information and what are they saying to the outside world? Follow their lead and, in turn, provide them with good, consistent and factual information to make their job easier.