Cork homeowners more likely to be refused house insurance over flood risk

Homeowners in Cork are three times as likely to be refused house insurance due to possible flooding risk than householders elsewhere in the country.

According to AA Insurance, 4.42% of Cork customers were denied house insurance because of flooding risk, compared to a national average of 1.37%.

Cork homeowners were also twice as likely to be denied house insurance because of past flood damage than other householders who had also experienced flooding.

In the survey of almost 9,000 AA members and home insurance customers, 0.37% of those surveyed had been denied home cover by at least one provider because of past flood damage to their property. However, in Cork this figure stood at 0.62%.

The director of AA consumer affairs, Conor Faughnan, said “investments must be made in flood defences”.

The survey showed that one in five homeowners in Cork suffered minor damage to their homes because of weather events, with high winds the principal cause of damage, and 21.31% of Cork homes had been damaged — slightly higher than the national average of 19.39%.

Across the country, high winds are the main cause of damage to homes, followed by fallen trees or branches, wind-propelled debris, flood water, and heavy rain.

Earlier this year it was revealed that flood defences around Morrison’s Island in Cork City are to be fast-tracked.

The area is affected by tidal flooding of the River Lee.

The Office of Public Works is overseeing Cork’s €60m flood defence scheme — the largest of its kind in the country.