Insurance companies blacklist houses in flood areas

Date Published: 16-Nov-2011

The mention of Turloughmore on an application form for home insurance cover is sending insurance companies diving for cover as they associate the area with flooding.

Applicants from Turloughmore who applied to a popular online insurance company have been told that they will not be covered for flooding because of where they live.

And the Office of the Insurance Regulator has been described as “a waste of time and public money” for allowing insurance to pick and choose who they will or will not insure.

There is outrage in the village and surrounding areas that they have been branded a flood plain despite the fact that Turloughmore was not badly affected by the November 2009 deluge.

It has been revealed that the purchaser of a new house in the area applied to an insurance company for a quotation and was told that they wouldn’t be covered for flooding . . . simply because they had a Turloughmore address.

It seems that Turloughmore is literally a ‘flashpoint’ when it comes to insurance companies providing cover for houses following the flooding that occurred in the general area two years ago.

Several houses were destroyed by flooding in the Abbeyknockmoy, Carnmore, Cregmore and Claregalway areas during the prolonged downpours in 2009 – some families have still not returned to their homes since then.

A number of on-line insurance companies have ‘blacklisted’ houses in Turloughmore by not providing flood cover and this has been described as unacceptable.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.