Millions more homes across England, Scotland and Wales face devastating flooding, with some towns potentially needing to be abandoned as climate breakdown makes many areas uninsurable, a Guardian investigation has found. New analysis from the insurance industry reveals that densely populated areas including London, Manchester and parts of north-east England are likely to be worst hit.
Aviva’s analysis of every parliamentary constituency in Great Britain found that the number of properties at risk from flooding in England is expected to increase by more than a quarter (27%), from 6.3 million to 8 million. The number of properties in high-risk areas for flash flooding could rise by up to 66% by mid-century. Every constituency is projected to face greater flood risk.
Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire has become the first town where public buildings are uninsurable. The town, which historically suffered damaging floods about once a decade, has been hit four times in the past six years. Deputy mayor Lesley Davies said: “We do feel abandoned. We are the blueprint for what could happen in the future.”
Jason Storah, chief executive for UK & Ireland general insurance at Aviva, said: “Millions more properties will be at risk from flooding, with rising temperatures, increased urbanisation and inadequate drainage.” He added that the insurance industry is directly correlated with environmental changes and cannot avoid the issue.
Emma Boyd, former chair of the Environment Agency, said it may be too expensive to build flood protections for some areas, and they may have to be abandoned. Over the past decade, 110,000 new homes were built in the highest-risk flood zones, and if this trend continues, 115,000 of the government’s planned 1.5 million new homes would also be in such zones.
