Flood-risk householders being signed up to warning service

The move will more than double the number of threatened properties registered with the flood alert scheme to almost a million.

Until now people have joined voluntarily, but under the new system they will have to opt out if they do not want to get the warnings.

Extending the service was one of the recommendations made by the inquiry into the devastating summer 2007 floods which inundated parts of Yorkshire, the Midlands and the West Country, when a month's rain fell in 24 hours.

In Hull, Michael Barnett, 28, was killed after becoming trapped in a storm drain, while in Sheffield 14-year-old Ryan Parry died after the River Sheaf burst its banks and Michael Harding, 68, died getting out of his car in the Wicker area.

Despite threats of a recurrence since then, figures show that six out of 10 residents in some of Yorkshire's flooding hotspots have not signed up.

The free warnings will start being given to homes with landlines and who are at risk from sea or river flooding from the end of the month.

Environment Agency chairman Lord Smith said the flooding in Cumbria last November showed once again how being prepared for floods was crucial.

He said: "One in six homes in England and Wales are at risk of flooding.

"We urge everyone to check whether their property is at risk by visiting the Environment Agency's website and taking steps to prepare, such as looking at ways to make properties more resistant to floods.

"By automatically signing up an extra 500,000 homes and businesses, we will more than double the number on our system to almost one million, giving more people vital time to get prepared for flooding, and by doing so, protecting lives and property."

Ron Smith, chairman of Burstwick United, which set up after the floods of 2007 left 138 homes in the East Riding village damaged, said it was a positive step, as many people had not bothered to sign up.

But he added: "To be quite honest I think people would rather have better protection than flood warnings."

The continuing threat of flooding in the county was underlined last month when melting snow caused Pickering Beck to rise by 0.95m. However in North Yorkshire only 40 per cent of the 249 eligible homes have signed up.

Floodline Warnings Direct sends an automatic message by landline, mobile, email or fax to those who have signed up, telling them when flooding is imminent and what action they can take to protect their home or business.

The forecasts are issued by the 10m Flood Forecasting Centre, which is run jointly between the Met Office and Environment Agency.

The Flood Forecasting Centre, another recommendation of the Pitt review, was set up to provide earlier warnings of floods to local authorities and emergency services, giving them extra time in which to prepare. It opened last April.

Previously the Met Office, which forecasts rain, and the Environment Agency, which monitors groundwater levels, only communicated by telephone. Sir Michael identified the separation as a key reason why 13 people died and over 40,000 homes were flooded nationally during the 2007 deluge.

Recent figures from the Association of British Insurers showed the cost of the flooding which hit Cumbria had risen above 200m.

The group said insurers had handled about 36,000 flood and storm damage claims.