Overhaul of flood grant schemes call

ENVIRONMENT: A leading insurance firm is calling for an overhaul of “ineffective” flood grant schemes which households can only access after they have been flooded.

Zurich said people are at risk of “double disaster” from floods and Covid-19 and reforms are needed so homeowners to make improvements.

A LEADING insurance firm is calling for an overhaul of “ineffective” flood grant schemes which households can only access after they have been flooded.

The Swiss insurance company Zurich said people are at risk of “double disaster” from flooding and the Covid-19 pandemic and reforms are needed to allow homeowners to make proactive improvements before another major flood event unfolds.

It comes months after Storms Ciara and Dennis were estimated to have caused more than £360m worth of damage.

Around 100 homes in Snaith and East Cowick in East Yorkshire were inundated after the River Aire spilled out of its normal washlands in February.

Ahead of tomorrow’s summer statement, Zurich said its own research suggests that investing £1 in prevention saves on average £5 in future losses.

The firm said households face a “postcode lottery” as £5,000 flood resilience grants are only handed out in areas designated by the Government after a flood event.

Zurich believes grants should be available all year round to help people in high flood risk areas protect their homes before flooding hits and say this would be an effective way of boosting economic recovery.

Laura McAlpine, Zurich’s head of public affairs, said: “Hundreds of thousands of households have been left more vulnerable as a result of the worst public health crisis in a generation.

“Even relatively minor flooding would place disproportionate strain on people’s jobs, finances and mental health.

“If towns are hit by flooding in the coming months, the impact would be magnified, with particularly severe consequences for the most vulnerable in society.”

According to official figures, more than 3.5 million properties in England and Wales are at risk from some form of flooding.

Of these, around one in 12 are at high risk – equivalent to 290,000 homes.

Halifax MP Holly Lynch said: “The Government’s decision to deny resilience grants to those who flooded for a second time in 2020, really rubbed salt in the wounds for people in the Calder Valley who flooded in both 2015 and 2020. Zurich make an important point about flood prevention, but we must ensure that flood resilience measures are ‘joinedup’ right across the catchment if we are to hold water further upstream and have any success in protecting homes and businesses in the future.”

The Rev Eleanor Robertshaw, the vicar in Snaith, said most victims of February’s flooding are still in temporary accommodation or caravans.

The flooding hit just before the onset of the pandemic and insurance and even grants from a charity fund had been held up.

She said: “People were only just starting to even comprehend what happened just as lockdown happened. It has been really tough.”

She said Zurich’s proposal seemed a good idea – but warned that flooding did not always turn out according to predictions.

She added: “In East Cowick they are about a mile from the river. The river did what they weren’t expecting it to – perhaps the flooding modelling needs to be done again.”

In York, the Environment Agency is making about £7,500 of property flood resilience available to more than 300 homes, for measures like flood doors and air brick covers. The UK has been hit by repeated flooding in recent years, the worst being 2007, which cost an estimated £3.2bn.

The Government was approached for a comment.

We must ensure flood resilience measures are ‘joined-up’.

Halifax MP Holly Lynch.