Properties at risk from flooding will not secure insurance cover unless defences are radically improved, according to recent research.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has warned that nearly 2m homeowners at risk of flooding may not be insured unless the Government spends an extra £145m pa on flood defence.
While the ABI has committed itself to insuring domestic properties and small business at risk of flooding for the next two years, it confirmed that in “exceptional circumstances” cover will have to be discontinued immediately.
The announcement follows the news that buildings in flood-prone areas should be abandoned to store and channel floodwaters as part of defences, according to a report by the Institution of Civil Engineers.
Its report, Learning to Live with Rivers, calls on the Government to consider “all options” when working out the cost-effectiveness of building new flood defences, including “land use change, such as the option of abandoning houses and other buildings that have been constructed on the flood plain”.
The report adds that the Government should give higher priority to planning and resources aimed at flood recovery programmes.
The Environment Agency said that last autumn’s floods in England and Wales resulted in damage to 10,000 properties at a cost of about £1bn.
Figures from the Department of the Environment show 2m properties, worth a total of around £215bn, lie within flood danger zones.
EGi News 14/11/01
