Advice to potential flood victims

9th November, 2007

James Harrison, CEO of the original insurance comparison website, Insurancewide.com, issues the following advice as high tides and flooding hit the east coast of England.

Anyone living in areas likely to be affected by the flooding that already have a home insurance policy should be fortunate enough to have flood damage included as part of their cover. Most home insurance policies do include this cover as standard but double check the small print.

For the unfortunate homeowners who do not currently have any existing home insurance and have been hit by a flood, there is very little point in trying to arrange cover now. Many leading home insurers even are considering removing flood cover from their standard home insurance policies unless the government increases its flood defence budget.

If you do suffer flood damage, call your insurer immediately and quote your policy number to register your claim and start the claim process rolling. If temporary repairs are necessary let you insurer know as they may wish to inspect the damage before permanent repairs are carried out. It's really important to keep a record of damage and keep a copy of correspondence with your insurer.

For more information on flood risk call the Environment Agency Floodline on 08459 881188.