The government must step up flood defences, insurers have urged.
Hundreds of thousands of properties in the UK will become effectively uninsurable if the government does not take action on flood defences, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has warned.
According to the body, people who live in the half a million homes currently facing a "significant risk" from being deluged might be forced to pay higher home insurance premiums - or might even be denied cover in the first place - if the situation is not improved. The comments come in the wake of widespread flooding in England during last June and July, which cost the industry as a whole £3 billion and provoked around 180,000 insurance claims.
The ABI is campaigning for the government to take action on the risk provided by drains overflowing, the cause of half last summer's claims, and to adopt a more "co-ordinated approach" with the Environment Agency taking overall control of all aspects of flood risk and flood defences. Currently, extreme weather preparations and recovery is overseen by a variety of public bodies.
Nick Starling, the ABI's director of general insurance and health, said: "These findings reinforce our call for a long-term flood management strategy.
"In particular, we must tackle the problem of surface water drainage. Planning for the future is essential if we are to minimise a repeat of last year's terrible floods, and to ensure that flood insurance protection remains widely available."
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