Insurers demand action on floods

Last year's floods were the worst on record

More than half a million homes in England may soon become uninsurable against floods, the insurance industry has warned.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) says there are 517,000 homes at significant risk of being flooded.

Last summer's floods in the UK cost the ABI's members £3bn in claims.

But it says its members will not continue insuring people in high risk areas unless the government takes steps to defend them against flooding.

"For flood cover to remain widely available, government action is needed to identify and better manage the threat of flooding," said the ABI in its review of the floods which swamped parts of the UK in June and July last year.

"Unless there is an overhaul in how flood risk is managed, insurers will find it increasingly difficult to offer flood cover in parts of the UK."

Urgency needed

Flood cover has been standard for household insurance since the early 1960s.

We need to have a sense of urgency about dealing with flooding Nick Starling, Association of British Insurers

It is offered on the assumption that floods will not occur more than once in every 75 years, or that adequate defences are planned within the next five years if the flood risk is higher.

Last year though, the floods, which were the worst on record, produced four years' worth of claims in just two months, with 180,000 claims for houses, businesses and cars.

"Last year's floods were massive, they changed our perception of what is happening with flooding in this country," Nick Starling of the ABI told the BBC.

"We need to have a sense of urgency about dealing with flooding - we need to get a grip on this issue," he added.

New laws

However, Environment Minister Phil Woolas said it was unfair to suggest that nothing had changed.

"A huge amount of work has been going on since the floods of last year, by the Environment Agency and local authorities, to put in place flood defence programmes," he said.

He said that both the agency and councils were now using their powers to restrict building on flood plains.

Also, the government announced last month that it would bring forward a Flood Bill to give the Environment Agency and councils more powers to prevent flooding.

But the ABI warned that what were once freak incidents are now becoming commonplace.

It said not enough was known about the real threat of flooding, whether it be from rivers, drains, or the sea.

And it pointed out that two-thirds of last year's flooding came from surface water or sewage flooding.