Insurers in city to assess damage

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Senior representatives of the British insurance industry are visiting Hull to see the full extent of the damage wreaked on the city by the floods.

A delegation from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) wants to find out if insurance companies are coping with a deluge of flood-related claims.

About 17,000 homes were affected in the city during June's floods.

An ABI spokesman said: "We want to get a really accurate picture of what the specific needs are on the ground."

He said the ABI's director of general insurance, Nick Starling, was leading the delegation and insurers would meet with residents, city council leaders and MPs.

Spending pledge

On Friday, the ABI team will head for Doncaster, Sheffield and Leeds to assess the situations there.

The ABI spokesman said: "This is a fact-finding visit to look at the work of the loss adjusters and insurance representatives on the ground.

"We want to assure people about the commitment of the insurance industry to these areas."

In the longer term, insurers would want to look at whether more could be done to protect homes from flooding through better drainage and flood defence systems.

"We will be working with the Environment Agency to see what it wants to get from the government's pledge to increase investment in flood defences," the ABI spokesman said.