Heavy rain can significantly impact businesses, causing logistical issues, business disruptions, and employee safety concerns. It is essential for businesses to prepare for weather-related impacts. Here are some of the problems heavy rainfall can cause, what your business can do to prepare, and how AccuWeather's SkyGuard® Warnings can help you stay ahead of severe weather.
Heavy rain can cause several problems with your business. It can cause project delays, increase costs, and even lead to safety hazards for workers and customers. Here are some of the ways that heavy rain can impact your business:
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Heavy rainfall can significantly impact all industries, including construction, agriculture, and transportation, often leading to delays, increased costs, and potential safety hazards.
In the construction industry, heavy rainfall can cause significant delays in project timelines, damage to materials, and worker safety hazards. Wet conditions can make pouring concrete, laying bricks, and handling other building materials difficult, leading to delays and increased costs. Water can also cause damage to pre-existing structures, leading to costly repairs and setbacks. Heavy rain can also turn the ground on construction sites into mud, posing safety risks for workers and causing problems with excavating for utilities or basements.
In agriculture, heavy rainfall can harm crop health and productivity. Excessive rainfall can wash pollutants, debris, and chemicals from urban and agricultural areas into streams, rivers, and reservoirs, affecting drinking water quality. It can also increase pests and diseases, create a favorable environment for mosquitoes and other insects, and increase mold and other diseases that can damage crops. Heavy rainfall can cause soil erosion and wash away valuable topsoil, harming crop production.
In the transportation industry, heavy rain can decrease average speed by 3 to 16 percent, reduce visibility, increase braking distances, and increase the likelihood of wheel spinning or hydroplaning. Heavy rains also pose the risk of roadways flooding, leading to dangerous driving conditions, detours, and increased travel times. Flooding reduces roadway capacity by limiting or preventing access to submerged lanes, and most weather-related crashes occur on wet pavement and during rainfall.
To mitigate the impact of heavy rain on businesses, it is important to have a plan in place and to be prepared for severe weather. Here are some actions that businesses can take to prepare for heavy rain:
Be proactive with AccuWeather's SkyGuard® Warnings, which will deliver site-specific alerts and offer warnings well before severe weather hits, giving you much-needed time to be prepared.
Benefits of SkyGuard® Warnings:
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AccuWeather’s track record in weather forecasting and warnings has saved our clients tens of billions of dollars, saved the lives of their employees and customers, and minimized reputational harm. Throughout our 60+ year history, AccuWeather has saved over 10,000 lives and prevented injuries to over 100,000 people.