MORE than 7,000 homes in the Vale of Clwyd could face insurance problems when a Government deal expires next year.
The area has the second highest number of properties at risk of flooding across England and Wales, according to figures from The Association of British Insurers (ABI).
Boston and Skegness tops the list of the communities with most homes at high flood risk, with 7,550 homes under threat.
The Vale of Clwyd, Folkestone and Hythe, and Windsor each have more than 7,000 homes with a more than one-in-75 chance of flooding in any one year.
Other high-risk constituencies include Runnymede and Weybridge, Clwyd West, Aberconwy, and Nottingham South, the ABI said.
Otto Thoresen, ABI’s director-general, said: “We are running out of time to make sure that people in high-risk areas are properly protected from the devastation flooding can cause and the ball is now in the Government’s court.
“Insurers want to make sure that every home has access to affordable insurance, should the worst happen, and we’re concerned that those people most at risk will lose out unless the Government considers a safety net.”
Insurers currently have a deal with Government they will provide cover for homes which have a high risk of flooding, but this will end in 2013.
Mr Thoresen added: “We are frustrated with the progress of our talks with the Government on this issue and want it to look urgently at a model that would allow flood cover to remain widely available and competitively priced.
“No country in the world has an entirely free market providing universal affordable flood insurance, and action is needed now to avoid 200,000 high-risk homes struggling to afford cover.”
The ABI wants the Government to share the risk for the most-vulnerable properties, claiming that the current deal distorts the market.
A spokesman for Defra, the Government department involved, said: "We want flood insurance to remain widely available and are continuing to work with the insurance industry to ensure that this will be the case after the current agreement between government and insurers expires in 2013.
"As part of these discussions, over the next few months we will consider whether there are feasible, value for money ways of targeting funding support to those most in need.
“We will make further announcements in the spring."