By Hannah Neary, Local Democracy Reporter
A father-of-three stated he has to pay £60,000 a 12 months for insurance coverage after his London residence was ravaged by flash floods in 2021.
Ollie Bishop’s household residence in Maida Vale pooled with filthy water after mass flooding plagued the town on July 12 final 12 months.
A 12 months on, Ollie is battling big monetary stress and fears he will be unable to promote his property after being given extortionate quotes from insurers to guard his residence.
Ollie, 45, stated he has spent nearly a 12 months battling to get flood insurance coverage for his decrease ground-floor property and was ultimately given a quote for £60,000 a 12 months.
He stated he hasn’t been informed by the insurance coverage firms why his claims had been rejected or the presents are so excessive.
He added: “It’s just so unfair. We are going to keep trying to see what we can find.”
There was greater than a month’s price of rain in simply over an hour on July 12 and drains had been overwhelmed by the quantity of water.
Ollie’s household moved into their home in 2014 and had by no means skilled any issues with flooding or drainage earlier than.
He stated the flooding triggered wood flooring all through the home to “completely buckle” and ruined their kitchen cabinets.
He added: “It completely puts your world upside down. It’s just devastating. It’s the anxiety of ‘what do we do if we get flooded again?”
Ollie additionally stated there’s sturdy suspicion amongst locals that the flooding might have been exacerbated by a failure to often clear drains.
He stated the water disappeared rapidly after specialists got here to the scene and labored on close by drains.
He added: “The speed that the water went away after about three or four hours of rain was really fast.
“It was like a plug hole had been opened and it was still raining. There’s a lot of questions to be answered.”
Thames Water has commissioned an unbiased assessment into the floods.
The closing report, revealed at present by engineering agency Mott MacDonald, has concluded they had been largely attributable to excessive ranges of rainfall.
It stated the floods had been the accountability of a number of organisations.
Thames Water is answerable for managing sewer flood danger, whereas native authorities are in control of floor water flooding.
The report stated: “The amount of rain that fell during the two storms was the main cause of flooding.
“Double the rainfall for the month fell during each of the events, vastly overwhelming the aboveground and below-ground systems.
“We also found that flows were held up on the surface as the gullies in some areas did not have the capacity to deal with the flow rates, and some may have been partially blocked.
“These types of events will continue to occur and, with climate change, are likely to may occur more frequently.
“As such, it is important that the response to flooding improves along with the resilience of the above and below-ground infrastructure.”
Thames Water was contacted for remark.
Pictured high: Ollie Bishop (Picture: Ollie Bishop)
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Source: countryask.com