Flood Re tours UK with Floodmobile to highlight flood resilience measures

Flood-Re-Floodmobile

Flood Re, the joint initiative between the UK government and insurance industry to help make home insurance more affordable, is this week touring flood-prone cities in the UK to highlight the resilience measures that residents and businesses can instal to mitigate against the risks of increased flooding.

The Floodmobile, a specially adapted mobile home which showcases 50 examples of property flood resilience (PFR) measures, is visiting Worcester, York, Hull and Carlisle, before arriving at the COP26 summit venue of Glasgow on Friday, 29 October.

Flood Re Head of Communications Kelly Ostler-Coyle will be accompanied on the tour by Mary Dhonau, a flood victim and campaigner popularly known as Flood Mary, to highlight the 21st anniversary this week of her first campaign to raise awareness of flood risk.

Among the PFR measures installed in the Floodmobile are waterproof plaster, door valves, wall membrane systems with sump pumps, flooring, wall coverings, skirting boards, self-closing air bricks, periscope covers, and recoverable kitchens.

Adaptation and resilience is one of the key themes of COP26, and the object of the tour is to highlight the critical importance of adapting buildings by fitting them with appropriate products to enable them to withstand the increased threat of flooding.

Flood Re has developed a Build Back Better (BBB) scheme which will be available through some insurers after April 2022.  BBB is designed to reduce the cost and impact of future floods by improving the roll-out and access to property resilience measures. Our research found that not only will BBB encourage PFR take-up, it will also reduce the severity and frequency of flood insurance claims.

Andy Bord, Chief Executive of Flood Re, said, “At COP26 there will, quite rightly, be a focus on the efforts of nations to reach net zero carbon emissions, but there is an urgent need right now for homes, businesses and governments to adapt to the climate - including the installation of PFR measures.

“The Floodmobile contains 50 great examples of effective, practical and easy-to-instal measures which businesses and homeowners can implement now. This will significantly improve the resilience of their buildings to the inevitable increased risk of flood we will face in the coming years as a result of global warming.”

Mary Dhonau added, “This month marks 21 years since I was flooded and started to campaign to raise awareness of flood risk. Since then, due to climate change, I have watched flooding become more devastating as the years go by, with people forced out of their homes for months on end.

“The Floodmobile demonstrates just what as can be done at a property level to reduce the awful impact a flood can have. I honestly believe that adaptation against flooding should be on the top of everyone’s agenda and it is time and money well spent!”

Since Flood Re was launched in 2016, the availability and affordability of home insurance for householders at risk of flooding has improved significantly with more than 350,000 households benefiting from the scheme to date. 94% of households with a prior flood claim can receive quotes from 5 or more insurers (compared to 0% before the introduction of the scheme) and 4 out of 5 households have seen a reduction in their insurance premium of more than 50%.

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