As parts of the UK continue to be impacted by severe flooding, Ian Bartholomew, Chief Underwriting Officer at flood insurance company FloodFlash, has confirmed that the company is working hard to ensure that most, if not all of its claims will be paid within the next week.
After a powerful storm and heavy rainfall, hundreds of homes across the UK have been flooded, with more than 260 flood warnings still in place.
FloodFlash is an insurer that uses a sensor installed at clients’ locations to measure flood depth and to provide data for a parametric trigger that defines when payouts are due.
“This is another large UK flood event, quickly following storm Babet in October. Our sensors have been registering flooding in affected areas up and down the country as, again, UK businesses are suffering from the impacts of overflowing rivers. In some cases our sensors have registered flood depths in excess of two metres at client properties,” said Bartholomew, discussing the ongoing UK flooding event.
“The flooding brought by storm Henk followed a wet end to last year. This week our sensors have registered flooding across England and Wales almost immediately after the disastrous events in Scotland,” he added.
As noted by Bartholomew, counties that have already witnessed flood activity in 2024 include Greater Manchester, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and West Sussex, and a major incident has now been declared in Nottinghamshire where the rising waters of the River Trent flooded more than 100 properties.
Bartholomew explained that so far, FloodFlash clients that have been the most affected have been in the sports, leisure, and hospitality industries.
“January can be a challenging time for those sectors without catastrophic flooding. As always, we’re working hard to ensure that the data our sensors provides means that the majority, if not all, of our claims will be paid within the next week,” said Bartholomew.
FloodFlash told this publication that over the last few days, flood waters have met the parametric trigger depths for some of their policies.
The flood insurer stated that it is in the process of managing those claims and expects to pay any that pass its checks.
