July floods cost insurers £1.5bn

New homes being built in high flood risk areas may be uninsurable and uninhabitable, warn insurers

published 20 September 2007

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has put the bill for Gloucestershire's floods at £1.5bn, and said that the Government promise to increase spending on floods by £230m by 2010 was not enough.

More than 200 roads were affected by the July floods, as well as thousands of homes. The total costs may well be more than £1.5bn, as some people have only just got back into their homes and are just beginning to assess the full damage.

'Let's be clear about this,' said ABI spokesman Malcolm Tarling in a statement. 'There's no automatic assumption that premiums will rise, some companies may increase their premiums, some will absorb the cost.'

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