HUNDREDS of flood victims from last November’s crisis are being refused new cover when their policies are up for renewal.
The Cork Flood Action Committee (CFAC) confirmed that despite widespread 300% premium rises in affected areas, insurance firms are refusing to continue to provide flood cover for victims.
According to the group’s legal adviser, Joe Noonan, up to 400 of the 1,200 people living in the Mardyke, Middle Parish and Victoria Road areas of Cork city had their house insurance policies come up for renewal in the four months since the flooding.
However, he said the vast majority have been told they will not, in future, be covered in the event of flooding – despite being forced to accept huge premium rises from insurance firms.
"You can take it, that in the past four months, a third of the householders in the area have had to renew their yearly insurance cover.
"That’s 400 people and what we are saying is that practically all of those people have been refused flood cover," Mr Noonan confirmed.
Among the flood victims was Greg Franklin, who said his insurance premium rose from €219 in 2009 to €690 this year as a direct result of the November deluge.
Despite the 300% premium increase, the 49-year-old said insurance firms have warned him he will not be covered should the floods (reasons for which are still unconfirmed) be repeated.
The Irish Insurance Federation (IIF) has defended the situation, stating that the flooding and freezing weather over winter saw total property claims in Cork reach €141 million.
Insurance firms are also understood to be waiting on the conclusions of an Oireachtas inquiry into the reasons behind the crisis before paying out large settlements to hundreds of flood victims.
Should the inquiry find that a particular organisation played a significant role in the flooding, insurance firms may seek to reclaim their losses from the group.
The Oireachtas inquiry, which is being heard by the Joint Committee on Environment, has already met with flood victim groups, Cork city and county council members, and the ESB, which controls the nearby Inniscarra dam. It is due to meet next Tuesday to discuss the format of its draft report into what happened in November, with the finalised document to be drawn up next month.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, March 18, 2010
