Floods and No Insurance

[flip_flop]

I have seen on the news people complaining that they thought they would get help from 'the authorities' for their losses - these people haven't bothered to buy insurance.

Am I alone in thinking sod 'em? House insurance is reasonably cheap and if they can't be arsed to buy it then it is their bloody problem, nobody elses.

They interviewed one chav who had a dirty great big 40 odd inch plasma on the wall - so they can spend thousands on a TV but not a couple of hundred quid on insurance.

As I say - sod 'em: I hope the authorities don't bail them out (not that I expect they will) - these bloody people should take responsibility for their own lives.

Grrrr.

[sandbach99]

Some of the flooding occured in the middle of the night which stopped people being able to move belongings upstairs.

In disasters such as these the various insurance companies should get together and not treat each case as individual to start with.
A loss adjuster should go to a street, call at every house to see what type of stove, fridge and washing machine they need, get everyone to sign that if they are not insured they will pay for replacements or give insurers names.
Electrical warehouses shoulld be told tio deliver these now then as soon as the electric is available people can cook and wash. If other basics like pans crockery are needed cheap packs given.

After people have the basics and whilst the houses are drying out / being repaired the adjusters can then sort out the rest of the claims, the insurance companies can sort out the money between themselves.
If the basics are given immediately people will wait for the luxuries without complaining so much.

[frankief]

It's a fair point about bungalows not having upstairs!, but I still think that people are laying it on a bit - 30 grand per house was mentioned on the news! Sorry but this isn't New Orleans, the damage is superficial, not structural. All you can see now is a tide mark 6 inch above the skirting board. It's not a national tragedy.
As for old people, yes they need the help, and I heard it said by Gordon Brown that this particular village was a tight community. I did see one *********** posing in front of the cameras, making out he was a local hero . Then there are the stories of looting...are they true, or further made up claims for the insurance companies?

[kwicky]

When my parents house was flooded in the great 1953 storms where over 300 people died on the east coast America, god bless its soul, gave out a free carpet to every local household. All valuable belongings were moved upstairs. They were warned by the sirens still in place after the war but only recently the government removed these as not cost effective?

[shaneystar2]

We still have the siren warning here in GY kwicky but it just means that the situation is severe .
I was only a child during the 1953 lot but I can remember my sister whose prefab which was below sea level running for her life up to where we lived and my brothers wading up through Southtown at Yarmouth to rescue an aunt who was upstairs in her home in Cobholm. There is still a pub here in my area with a line on the wall where the flood waters came up to .God forbid if something like that ever happened again and I very much doubt that a lot of those people at that time were insured !
It came from nowhere and took a lot of people unawares. Very sad .And ...the thing is it could happen again and what are the government doing about sea defences ....nothing .

[Bazile]

See also this earlier posting

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question42 8621.html