With Britain experiencing what is reported to be the wettest summer in 200 years, just how is this affecting us as a country both financially and on a personal level?
Of course the odd day of rain is nothing and can be expected during a typical British summer. We face it with the typical stoic attitude that people have come to expect of us as a nation. However when a daily barrage is received for weeks on end this carefully built façade begins to crumble and indeed collapse. This unfortunately is just the beginning because we face something much, much worse; flooding.
It can be said that with the exception of some areas where effective flood defences have been in place for many years, we as a country are completely ill prepared for this type of extreme meteorological condition. Indeed we experience much the same problem when faced with a snow shower or two. The roads close, the airports shut and the country grinds to a halt.
With the onslaught of heavy rain showers, the rivers have swollen, the drain system, overloaded by a level of water it was never designed for, has failed us and in many area’s houses have been flooded causing untold amounts of damage. From the information I have been able to peruse I have gathered some worrying facts; in just one day, one large home insurance company reported 8,600 claims relating to flood damage to property and contents. Worse still; the average claim ranged between £15-20,000, taking the smaller of the two amounts and multiplying it by the number of claims gives us a figure of £129m and that it just an example of one company in one day.
Regardless of whether you have experienced any flooding or not I would strongly advise all who read this article to check their policy documents to ensure damage caused by flooding is covered. If you are unlucky enough to have no insurance policy in place I recommend you seriously think about setting it up. It is said you can’t put a price on peace of mind and that saying is certainly true in this context.
Of course most Insurers these days will cover you for this type of damage and you may have nothing to worry about but it is always worth double checking. For those of you who may have already experienced flood damage, you will know how much of a heartrending situation this can be. In the event of your property flooding you need to contact your insurer as soon as possible and be sure to make use of 24 hour emergency help lines offered by many insurers. The majority of house insurance policies will cover for alternative accommodation should you property become inhabitable and need repair.
Remember; insurance policies are there to cover for the eventuality they are taken out for, therefore do not hesitate to use them should it prove necessary.
Chris Rowlands is a UK based author with experience within the financial sector centering on insurances.
