Summer 2007 floods cost £3.2 billion

SUMMER 2007 FLOODS COST £3.2 BILLION

£23,000 – £30,000 average cost per flooded home

The devastating floods of summer 2007 cost the country a total of £3.2bn, including more than £2bn to homeowners and businesses and 400,000 lost pupil days, a report from the Environment Agency revealed today.

The report, published some two months since the devastating Cumbria floods in November, illustrates the wide-ranging and substantial costs of flooding.

In the most comprehensive review of the economic impact of the 2007 floods, the Environment Agency calculated that households and businesses incurred the majority (some two-thirds) of the total. The average cost was between £23,000 and £30,000 per flooded home but a quarter of homeowners were not fully covered by insurance. Some 30 per cent of households were forced to relocate to temporary accommodation, one third of which for more than a year.

The average cost incurred per flooded business was between £75,000 and £112,000, with 95 per cent of companies covered by insurance.

The summer 2007 floods also caused about £660m in damage to critical infrastructure and essential services. Water supplies and treatment plants were the most affected, followed by roads, electricity supplies, agriculture and disruption to schools.

Utility companies and their customers incurred most (£330m) of these costs, including £186m by water companies and £139m by electricity and gas suppliers, mainly due to disrupted supplies. The flooding of Mythe water treatment works in Tewkesbury created one of the UK’s worst post-World War II emergencies, leading to the loss of piped water supply to 350,000 customers in over 138,000 properties in the Gloucester area from 22 July 2007 for over two weeks.

Robert Runcie, Environment Agency Director of Flood and Coastal Risk Management, said: "It has now been almost two months since the devastating floods in Cumbria and although the full economic costs will not be known for some time, our report into the summer 2007 floods suggest that they are likely to be substantial.

"The 2007 flood cost homeowners, businesses, emergency services and others some £3.2bn. The high costs of flooding underline the importance for continued investment in reducing flood risk, particularly as climate change means that we are likely to see more severe and frequent flooding in future."

Other costs included:

:: Communications and transport : including damage caused to roads: £230m (seven per cent of the total cost)

:: Local government: £140m (four per cent)

:: Agriculture: £50m (two per cent). Farmers lost an average of £1,150 per flooded hectare

:: Emergency services: including response by the Environment Agency: £27m (about one per cent)

:: Education: the loss of 400,000 pupil days due to school closures.

The Environment Agency’s analysis of the cost of the 2007 floods underlines the importance of continued investment in managing flood risk. 1 in 6 homes in England and Wales are at risk of flooding and the government’s environmental watchdog has said that investment in the building and maintaining of flood defences will need to almost double to £1bn a year by 2035 to keep pace with the effects of climate change.

The Environment Agency estimates the average annual cost of flood damage to residential and commercial property across England, as well as the cost of further disruption, damage to infrastructure and loss of business, could rise by 60 per cent by 2035 unless funding for flood defences is increased. The organisation has calculated that the damage avoided through its investment proposals could save England some £180bn over the next 100 years.

Robert Runcie, Environment Agency Director of Flood and Coastal Risk Management, continued: "The Environment Agency recently announced plans to protect an extra 200,000 homes and businesses in England and Wales from flooding in the five years to 2015. However, investment in the building and maintaining of flood defences will need to almost double to £1bn a year by 2035 to keep pace with climate change.

"We estimate that the average annual cost of flood damage could rise by 60 per cent by 2035 unless funding for defences is increased."

to read the full report please click here

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Summer 2007 floods cost £3.2 billion

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