As flood events become more frequent and severe across Canada, businesses are being pushed to rethink where resilience comes from. For David Jackson (pictured), AVP, general property at Zurich Resilience Solutions Canada, that means looking beyond government infrastructure and insurance coverage, and focusing on what organizations can control themselves.
Jackson is part of Zurich’s risk consulting arm, working with underwriters, customers and brokers to help clients understand and mitigate exposure. He said there is a widening gap between evolving climate conditions and infrastructure systems designed for earlier weather patterns.
Municipal stormwater networks, power grids and road systems are increasingly showing strain from deferred maintenance and design standards based on historical assumptions. Storm sewers, he noted, were often built for short, infrequent rainfall events rather than the repeated, high-intensity conditions now being observed.
In his view, waiting for public investment to fully close that gap is not a viable strategy.
“If we simply wait for infrastructure to catch up, we’ll be waiting a long time. In the meantime, organizations need to understand their own exposure and build resilience internally,” he said.
Against that backdrop, Jackson argues that responsibility is increasingly shifting toward property owners and businesses. For him, the foundation of resilience is not a physical control but a planning document: a tested business continuity plan.
He calls it the starting point for any effective risk strategy.
“Without a solid plan, and one that’s actually tested and familiar to people, no matter what physical controls you put in place, there are always going to be failures and challenges,” he said.
He said continuity planning forces organizations to map critical functions, identify dependencies and run through realistic disruption scenarios, including flooding. Just as importantly, it ensures that staff understand how to execute the plan under pressure.
“It’s an investment more in terms of time than cost,” Jackson said, adding that the real value comes from how it shapes decision-making during an actual event.
Beyond planning, he points to a series of practical, often low-cost measures that can materially reduce exposure. Snow management is one example. Where snow is stored on a property can significantly influence flood risk during rapid thaws.
He said plowing practices often prioritise speed and access, with limited attention to drainage implications. If large snow piles are placed near low-lying areas or drains, rapid melt can overwhelm local systems and direct water toward buildings. In higher-risk cases, he suggested businesses may need to remove snow entirely from site rather than simply relocate it.
Drainage maintenance is another key area. Clearing gutters, catch basins and on-site drains before winter can significantly improve a property’s ability to handle both snowmelt and heavy rainfall. Jackson described this as “low-hanging fruit,” given its relatively low cost compared to the potential impact of water intrusion.
Timing, he added, is critical. He breaks the year into phases, noting that the most valuable window for improvement comes immediately after a flood event, when conditions are still fresh.
“Right now we’re in recovery mode, but in a few weeks the water will be gone and people will move on. That’s exactly when you need to be sitting down and planning for the same flood events next year,” he said.
Jackson said that period is when organizations are most likely to identify weaknesses in their response, from access disruptions to system failures and recovery delays. He encourages businesses to translate those observations directly into updates to continuity plans, maintenance routines and capital investment decisions.
Without that step, he said, lessons risk being lost once operations return to normal.
“Lessons learned can’t just stay on paper. It means going back to the site, seeing where water actually moved, identifying what failed in practice, and then updating plans and maintenance based on those realities,” he said.
Beyond individual sites, Jackson also urges organizations to consider interconnected risks. Flood exposure often extends beyond property boundaries, affecting power infrastructure, transport routes and suppliers that may be located far from the primary site.
He cited past events in British Columbia, where atmospheric rivers disrupted highways and temporarily severed supply chains into Vancouver, as an example of how geographically distant events can still have operational consequences.
To manage that exposure, he said businesses are increasingly considering backup power systems, alternative suppliers and diversified logistics routes as part of their resilience planning.
Only after these foundational steps does he turn to more capital-intensive physical protections, such as flood barriers, site regrading or relocating critical equipment above projected flood levels. These measures, while important, depend heavily on understanding site-specific water behaviour and are typically most effective when layered on top of strong planning and maintenance practices.
