Homeowners who faced enormous bills and were even made homeless due to flooding have told how they improved their properties to stop it happening again.
More homes in Britain are at risk from flooding as the country suffers increasing rainfall, with the Met Office reporting six of the 10 wettest-ever years have occurred since 1998.
Flooding can be catastrophic, ruining irreplaceable possessions, causing enormous damage to properties and even forcing families from their homes for months or even years. The mental health impact of flooding can be enormous, and is often overlooked.
In response, increasing numbers of homeowners have decided to tackle the problem head-on with property improvements that slash the chances their homes will flood – or reduce the impact if it does.
Rising tide: The UK has seen a rise in severe flooding, with many homes hit more than once
Not only this, but there are little-known schemes and grants that can pay thousands of pounds towards the cost of this work, though some are only available once the flooding has happened.
Here, This is Money speaks to some homeowners about how they made their homes more flood-proof, and lays out some of the cash available to help you do it too.
Nearly £200k of flood damage
Ian Dawson, 66, is a teacher that owns a home in Reeth, North Yorkshire. He moved into Georgian stone property in 1993, situated at the bottom of a valley and close to the beautiful Arkle Beck river.
This river is fast-flowing but normally only just half a metre deep. But in 2019, heavy rainfall ran off the sides of the valley straight into the river, causing it to swell rapidly.
At the time, Dawson was on holiday hundreds of miles away in Cornwall, before getting a phone call from his son urging him to come home due to the very high chance flooding was about to happen.
Dawson abandoned his trip and headed back to Yorkshire, but by the time he arrived it was too late.
Trouble in paradise: The beautiful Calder Valley was hit by severe flooding in 2019
The Arkle Beck had risen by almost three metres, causing one metre of water to surround his property.
The flooding came up through the floor, around the doors and windows and even up through the sewer, causing foul water to enter the home through the plumbing.
‘We had to drop everything and get back from the holiday, and we’d only been there a few days,’ Dawson said.
‘Cars had been washed down the road and were stacked at silly angles, walls were down, stones and tree debris on the road, and the rivers were still quite high.
‘When we arrived, my son and a team of people from the village were trying to mop up and get rid of the frogs and fish that were in the kitchen.
‘The smell, I can’t describe it, it was like rotting bodies and sewage.’
Too close for comfort: The floodwater caused almost £200,000 of damage to Dawson’s home
The flooding caused around £160,000 in damage to his home and around £35,000 to the possessions within in.
The building work required was so serious that Dawson and his family had to leave the home, for what they thought would be six months.
The home needed to be rewired, replumbed, have a new floor installed and have the ground floor stripped right back to the bare stone and rebuilt.
But that six months became two years, as then the pandemic meant it was harder to get tradespeople to work on the property.
Dawson and his family moved eight times, staying in alternative accommodation like holiday lets.
Messy business: Flooding entered Ian Dawson’s property through the doors and windows
Plumb crazy: Foul flood water seeped into Dawson’s property through the plumbing system
But as the property was being rebuilt anyway, Dawson, guided by his helpful loss assessor, decided to take action to cut the chance such bad flooding could happen again.
His old ground floor, which was a suspended floor using wooden beams, was replaced by concrete, then insulation, then a layer of concrete screed – thus making it impossible for water to rise up through it again.
An added benefit was it made the property warmer, and more suitable for the air source heat pump Dawson fitted to replace his old oil-powered heating.
‘We thought if we’re part of global warming, and that’s causing flooding, then we need to stop using oil’, he explained.
His ground floor walls were also insulated, while he got his old plastic doors and windows replaced with stronger aluminium ones that can withstand water pressure better.
Dawson also got flood barriers fitted at his back window and gate. These are waterproof metal screens that can be quickly installed whenever flooding is likely.
He also moved his ground floor plug sockets higher up the walls, avoiding the chance of water damage to the electrical system in the unlikely event his home floods again.
Dawson also decided to close off the connection to the ground floor sewer, and had his ground floor bathroom moved to an upstairs bedroom instead, as well as moving the air vent for his log burner from under the ground floor to higher up an outside wall.
The £160,000 bill for the repairs was picked up by his insurer at the time, More Than, with Dawson paying out for the £4,000 cost of the flood barriers.
‘The reason we did the changes was to mitigate any future incidents and the damage,’ Dawson said.
‘It gives us tremendous peace of mind. But it was a challenge, in terms of the time and effort we had to put into it.
‘Emotionally there was in impact. we found it difficult trying to carry on our jobs and do all this.’
‘I’ve become a flood warden’
Another homeowner who improved their property after flood damage is Katie Kimber, 43, a digital marketeer, councillor and flood warden.
Her former home, in the Calder Valley, was flooded on Boxing Day 2015. The property, a detached townhouse, was laid out over three floors, with a garage, utility room and bathroom on the ground floor.
The home has a river on one side and a canal on the other, but the region was not previously at any risk of flooding.
Then over the 2015 festive period heavy rain started, causing the rivers to swell and the water table to rise.
On Christmas Day itself Kimber and her husband stayed up all night, ready to act on the flood warning the local residents had been given.
Kimber and her family had only moved into the home months before, meaning boxes of sentimental items were still stacked in her garage waiting to be unpacked.
At 8am on Boxing Day, the nearby river began to rise, slowly creeping up their garden, before entering the ground floor, before the canal did too – with water surrounding the home from all sides.
‘But once it started coming it was really fast, no amount of protection was going to stop it from rising, and it rose five metres,’ Kimber said.
‘It filled the garage then started seeping into the downstairs. We knew buying a house near a river and canal and knew it came with risk. but we had seen water levels rise and fall quite quickly so we thought we’d be alright.’
‘We were left with horrendous mess and smell and horribleness afterwards. We couldn’t believe it had happened, but also felt fortunate as we could see how much higher the water had been in other properties.’
The flooding can caused huge damage to the ground floor of the property, and to many of the family’s sentimental possessions.
The local community showed up in force to help with the cleanup work, and helped the family salvage what they could, while in turn Kimber and her family helped other local residents that had been flooded.
Kimber then had to wait a year for the property to dry out enough to do any building work, during which time it was damp and smelled awful.
She and her family raised the level of their garage to that of the rest of the ground floor, and retiled the rest of the lower floor.
‘We just thought that the lowest point was always going to be the weakest point so took the opportunity to get rid of that risk,’ she explained.
Kimber also installed waterproof mortar on the outside of her home, and put in self-closing air bricks that allow ventilation but will seal automatically if there is flooding.
She also improved the drainage of her garden, making it easier for water to soak away.
The cost of the work came to £8,000. Kimber got a grant of £5,000 from Calderdale Council, which distributed Government funding to flooded homes. She then got another £1,000 from a local group, the Community Foundation for Calderdale, then paid for the remaining £2,000 herself.
The experience inspired Kimber to become a flood warden and to advocate for better local mental health support for those affected by flooding.
‘I think the mental health side of it is really important,’ she said. ‘We secured money through the Foundation and the council to help with community mental health with flooding.
‘It comes into play months and months after the flood, because the shock has gone and people are left with the anxiety of it happening again. You have to be so mentally resilient to cope with flooding, and it is often overlooked.
‘Flooding can affect you mentally for the rest of your life, potentially, and cause anxiety every time it rains, sometimes. I think we need to have lots of empathy from that. It’s such a terrible time for people.’
Grants for help with flooding costs
There are a variety of different grants available to help with the cost of flooding.
Build Back Better grants – up to £10,000
Some insurers offer a scheme called Build Back Better, where they give up to £10,000 in Government cash to make homes more resilient to future flooding.
However, as the name implies, your property has to be flooded first to access this money.
Concrete nightmare: A lack of ways for water to drain away worsens the impact of many floods
Any money paid out through the scheme is on top of any flood insurance payout. The cash can be used for things such as increasing the height of electrical sockets and installing flood barriers.
Grants made through Build Back Better are on top of any cash homes get by making a flood insurance claim.
The cash can be used to pay for things like raising electrical sockets and white goods away from floor level.
The insurers signed up to Build Back Better are Ageas, Aviva, Axa, Covea, Hiscox, NFU Mutual, Lloyd’s Banking Group, LV= General Insurance and RSA.
The scheme was launched in 2022 as a tie-up between insurers and the Government.
The idea is that, because many homes flood more than once, it is better to reduce the cost of it when it does happen.
Community Recovery Grant – £500
This is Government cash of £500 per household, paid out by local councils to give quick support to those that have been flooded.
Flood help: There are a number of ways to access cash to help with flooding costs
To be eligible for this money, a main home either has to be flooded or be unliveable due to flood. Second and additional homes are not covered.
Property Flood Resilience Grant – up to £8,000
This is a scheme run by the Environment Agency that pays up to £8,000 to make homes more resistant to flood damage.
The money is handed out by local councils, and not all are signed up to the scheme.
To access the money, you must contact your council and arrange for an independent surveyor to visit your home, which is free.
The surveyor will then recommend suitable flood resilience measures – if there are any. The grant can then pay for the cost of that work.
Frequently Flooded Allowance
This is a £100million Government fund that pays households and businesses in areas where 10 or more properties have flooded twice or more in the last 10 years.
While some of the cash is used for flood defences, the scheme can also pay out for flood resilience for homes too.
However, homeowners cannot apply for the scheme directly. Instead, ‘risk management authorities’ such as councils and water firms have to put together a plan to tackle flooding in the region, which Government then has to approve.
Previous flood support help
Council tax support
After the serious flooding in 2019, affected households were allowed to apply for a three-month council tax holiday to help save money for flood repairs.
While the scheme is no longer active, it could be revived for future floods.
One-off Government flood grants
In England, the Household Flood Resilience Grant Scheme gives grants of up to £5,000 per home.
The scheme becomes active after serious flooding, for example in 2015 and 2020, and is not currently active.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have similar schemes.
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