Insurers urged to combat flooding
Insurance companies should pay for flooded homes to be rebuild so they
are less at risk of similar disasters, according to Environment Agency
boss Lord Smith.
And he has urged that premiums be reduced for people who have taken steps to protect their properties and have signed up for the Environment Agency's free flood warning service.
He told the Insurance Institute of London that floods such as the 2007 disaster - where lots of rain fell quickly in one place - are increasingly likely as climate change makes urban centres more vulnerable to surface-water flooding.
Saying that "we've made things worse for ourselves" by paving over large areas of permeable ground in cities, he welcomed the change in the law that requires planning permission for gardens to be concreted over.