The retailers with shops affected in last month’s floods were all in areas with underfunded flood defences, as shown in new research by Rainbow International.

The disaster recovery specialists found that while London and the south-east have just 17% of the most flood-prone locations, they receive 60% of government flood defence funding.

Retailers in Derbyshire, Yorkshire and Lancashire claimed last month that poor flood defences led to damage and evacuations of their shops. In July, flooding affected a number of convenience stores and newsagents in North Yorkshire, but Yorkshire and the Humber still receives the least flood defence funding of any region. 

Denise Taylor, of Hewsons in Leyburn, North Yorkshire, told RN her store had suffered serious financial harm from the recent flooding. Responding to the research, she said: “We would like to see more done in the way of support, and recently we were part of a public meeting that called for more help from the government to protect businesses.”

Read more: How to prepare your store for the unexpected.