Flooding dilemma for poorer households

Home insurers in the UK are currently debating whether or not to include cover for flooding in new policies, it has been reported, after serious flooding has hit the UK twice in the past two summers.

The floods in 2007 were deemed "a once-in-150-year event", reports the Guardian, although insurers are already raising the price of flood cover.

Dave Dixon, speaking to the newspaper from Citizens Advice in Hull, an area badly hit by flooding, said: "Some companies won't quote for Hull postcodes - at least for new business…And some of those that will insist on huge excesses for future flood damage, which means that some start worrying every time there is heavy rain. People simply can't afford to pick up the first £1,000, £2,000 or £5,000 of a claim.

Although there have been positive experiences, Mr Dixon explained: "One Hull resident whose claim topped £30,000 has had her insurance renewed with nothing changed except for £12-a-year extra."

September 22^nd 2008

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