USA: Small businesses nationwide call on congress to prioritize flood-ready infrastructure

By Forbes Tompkins

More than 500 small-business leaders from all 50 states have signed a letter to Congress urging legislative action to ensure that the nation’s infrastructure is flood ready.

The letter stressed the role that resilient infrastructure plays in allowing local businesses to stay open during and after a flood. 

Accounting for 99.9 percent of U.S. businesses, the small-business sector is highly vulnerable to floods. The Federal Emergency Management Agency reports that 40 to 60 percent of small businesses never reopen after a disaster, and 90 percent of smaller companies fail within a year unless they can resume operations within five days.

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Strengthening flood-ready standards for all federally funded construction in flood-prone areas can benefit communities and businesses alike by increasing their ability to withstand disasters, shorten recovery times, and save taxpayer dollars through avoidance of damage from future storms.