Martha wrote: <I wonder how many insurance companies are going to go broke from this? I'll bet they didn't charge premiums that would anywhere near cover this kind of disaster, whether or not they have to pay for flooded as well as blown-down homes and businesses and cars.>
Probably due to climate change, areas of the UK have flooded in recent years which hadn't flooded in the past. Some places it was completed unexpected like Boscastle in Cornwall which was almost completely destroyed last year. Other were more predictable, like those housing estates built on a flood plain.
Insurance companies now won't insure some property which is known to flood, and the government has been very obliging to the insurance companies and produced a map of the UK showing which areas are likely to flood (even though they haven't in the past), so they can charge higher premiums in those areas.
According to the government map, my bungalow is just above 50 metres from the boundary of extensive flooding. Admittedly we're close to Poole Bay. Admttedly the lower part of the road (but no houses) which is in a hollow (but still above sea level) used to flood to a depth of one and a half inches at spring tides before new drainage system with one-way valves was installed five years ago. It hasn't even suffered from slow water drainage since. No other flooding has *ever* happened. The insurance companies have still seized the opportunity to raise our premiums though.
Jea in Poole, Dorset, UK To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
