Aviva, Lloyds join British FloodRe insurance scheme to build flood resilience

LONDON (Reuters) – Five insurers including Aviva and Lloyds Banking Group have joined a programme set up by Britain’s FloodRe to give homeowners extra funds to build up resilience to floods, FloodRe said on Thursday.

The insurers will offer customers access to reimbursement costs of up to 10,000 pounds ($13,137) over and above the cost of flood repairs and losses, industry-backed reinsurance scheme FloodRe said.

The extra money can be used for protective measures such as raising electrical sockets and white goods above floor level and replacing flooring with waterproof tiles.

“In the UK, since 1998 we have seen six of the wettest years on record, with 5.2 million homes and businesses at risk of flooding,” said Andy Bord, CEO of Flood Re.

“The trajectory will only continue to worsen without urgent, collective action.”

A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in February warned that humanity was far from ready even for the climate change that is already baked into the system by decades of fossil fuel-burning and deforestation. It urged the world to ramp up investments in adaptation.

In South Africa, the death toll has this week risen to 306 from heavy rains that washed out roads and disrupted shipping in one of Africa’s busiest ports.

The other insurers offering the FloodRe resilience funds are Ageas, NFU Mutual and LV= General Insurance, a unit of Allianz.

($1 = 0.7612 pounds)

(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; editing by David Evans)