Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Flood Alert In The Uk - The Shocking Truth

By John Paige

According to a recent survey, about 6.5 million homes in the UK are at risk from flooding, and 1.5 million of these homes are in high risk areas. This survey should make your bones shiver because your house could be one of the 6.5 million homes! So far, the government has completed only flood defenses and protection for about 80,000 homes.

With this fact, you might be in a lot of trouble if you can not obtain flood coverage for your home. You must know by now that if you live in a high flood risk area, insurance providers are not welcoming you with open arms to obtain their flood coverage. If global warming continues, this problem is only going to get bigger, and by 2030, the number of homes at risk is epected to be as high as three and a half million. This number is huge, and is something that everyone in the United Kingdom should pay attention to and prepare for.

Due to the recent severe flooding in high risk areas in the UK, leading insurance providers have been mulling about removing flood insurance cover from their policies because they had been stung by the flood insurance claims amounting to millions of pounds. That is if the government will not make any move to increase its budget for putting up flood defenses.

It is the responsibility of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to develop and maintain these flood defenses in the UK. The immediate result of the severe floods is that people with homes located in high risk areas can only expect their flood insurance premiums soaring up.

This is not good news for people in the high risk areas because their premiums could even rise up to 400% especially in the areas most prone to flooding. Do not also be surprised if your existing flood insurance provider may decline to renew your flood insurance policy or even refuse to sell flood insurance cover mostly in areas where floods are prone to hit most.

Internet reports are showing that if DEFRA does not step in almost immediately, the current flood damage rate of 950 million pounds a year could quickly rise to over three billion pounds. The average flood damage claim is 30,000 pounds, which is astonishingly higher than the average fire damage claim.

To help control this alarming occurrence, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) is pressuring the DEFRA to hasten installing and upgrading flood defenses in the UK, especially those areas considered to be high risk.

If you want to know if your current home or one you plan to move in to is one of the almost seven million at risk from flooding, you can check the flood maps at DEFRA's website, located at www.environment-agency.gov.uk. You can not ignore these facts, as your entire future might well be at stake, so please, find out today if you are at risk.

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