It’s that time of year again when certain pockets of the country are suddenly gripped by devastating flash floods.
One year ago exactly this weekend, residents of Cockermouth in Cumbria fell victim to the elements. Today, it’s the opposite end of the country that’s been hit, with residents of Lostwithiel and St Austell in Cornwall especially, finding themselves chest-deep in water.
Time for reflection
While it’s difficult to imagine the devastation that flooding can cause until you fall victim to it yourself, the news should at least prompt homeowners into action.
Julie Owens, head of home insurance at moneysupermarket.com, said: “With flood warnings still in place for much of the West of England, I would urge anyone who has been, or stands to be affected by this severe weather, to act now.
“People in ‘at risk’ households should check the details of their buildings and contents cover, especially the limits and excesses on both. It pays to make sure that the quality of your insurance is high and you won’t be left out of pocket if you had to make a claim.”
Flooding and your home insurance
If you are unfortunate enough to be flooded, you may need to claim on both your contents and buildings insurance policies, so be clear on which items fall under each category. “Fixtures such as fireplaces and electric lights, which you may have thought would be covered under a buildings policy, will usually be classified as contents,” says Julie Owens. “But taking both parts of the insurance with the same insurer will ensure that no items fall through the definition gap.”
If you live in a particularly high-risk flood area, it’s worth taking a little more care over choosing your home and contents insurer in the first place, in terms of the support it offers in the event of a flood.
Lloyds TSB Insurance for example has its own in-house teams of Personal Claims Consultants, who are assigned to manage the largest and most complex customer claims (such as flooding) the whole way through the process. This means you get one single point of contact at the insurer rather than being passed from pillar to post – which, when surrounded by chaos already, could prove an invaluable blessing.
Minimising the damage
But while getting adequate home and contents cover is crucial, so is taking steps to minimising the water damage if you live in a high risk flooding area. Moneysupermaket.com offers the following tips:
Stock up on sandbags: Always have some sandbags stored which you can use to block doorways to help keep water out and protect the inside of your home.
Protect things you can’t replace: Items of sentimental value such as photographs and diaries should be packed in waterproof bags and put somewhere safe, ideally upstairs. After all, no amount of insurance money can bring these back.
Keep a useful contacts directory handy: List important phone numbers such as your home insurance provider and policy number as well as Floodline (0845 988 1188) and keep the information to hand.
Pack a flood kit: Put together an emergency kit containing personal IDs, any required medication and a change of clothing in case you do need to evacuate your home.
Move costly possessions: Shift valuable and electrical goods off the floor and ideally move them upstairs.
Protect soft furnishings: If flooding looks likely, take up rugs and put them upstairs or throw curtains over curtain rails.
One year ago exactly this weekend, residents of Cockermouth in Cumbria fell victim to the elements. Today, it’s the opposite end of the country that’s been hit, with residents of Lostwithiel and St Austell in Cornwall especially, finding themselves chest-deep in water.
Time for reflection
While it’s difficult to imagine the devastation that flooding can cause until you fall victim to it yourself, the news should at least prompt homeowners into action.
Julie Owens, head of home insurance at moneysupermarket.com, said: “With flood warnings still in place for much of the West of England, I would urge anyone who has been, or stands to be affected by this severe weather, to act now.
“People in ‘at risk’ households should check the details of their buildings and contents cover, especially the limits and excesses on both. It pays to make sure that the quality of your insurance is high and you won’t be left out of pocket if you had to make a claim.”
Flooding and your home insurance
If you are unfortunate enough to be flooded, you may need to claim on both your contents and buildings insurance policies, so be clear on which items fall under each category. “Fixtures such as fireplaces and electric lights, which you may have thought would be covered under a buildings policy, will usually be classified as contents,” says Julie Owens. “But taking both parts of the insurance with the same insurer will ensure that no items fall through the definition gap.”
If you live in a particularly high-risk flood area, it’s worth taking a little more care over choosing your home and contents insurer in the first place, in terms of the support it offers in the event of a flood.
Lloyds TSB Insurance for example has its own in-house teams of Personal Claims Consultants, who are assigned to manage the largest and most complex customer claims (such as flooding) the whole way through the process. This means you get one single point of contact at the insurer rather than being passed from pillar to post – which, when surrounded by chaos already, could prove an invaluable blessing.
Minimising the damage
But while getting adequate home and contents cover is crucial, so is taking steps to minimising the water damage if you live in a high risk flooding area. Moneysupermaket.com offers the following tips:
Stock up on sandbags: Always have some sandbags stored which you can use to block doorways to help keep water out and protect the inside of your home.
Protect things you can’t replace: Items of sentimental value such as photographs and diaries should be packed in waterproof bags and put somewhere safe, ideally upstairs. After all, no amount of insurance money can bring these back.
Keep a useful contacts directory handy: List important phone numbers such as your home insurance provider and policy number as well as Floodline (0845 988 1188) and keep the information to hand.
Pack a flood kit: Put together an emergency kit containing personal IDs, any required medication and a change of clothing in case you do need to evacuate your home.
Move costly possessions: Shift valuable and electrical goods off the floor and ideally move them upstairs.
Protect soft furnishings: If flooding looks likely, take up rugs and put them upstairs or throw curtains over curtain rails.
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