HUNDREDS of families will be concerned to find themselves now included on the new flood maps of at-risk properties released by the Environment Agency.

Twenty-one communities across the county have been affected by the updated maps, with about 1,000 homes added or reclassified as higher risk, 455 removed and 50 reclassified as at a lower risk.

But the Environment Agency is right and responsible to release this information.

It may hit some homeowners in the pocket over the short-term. But they must consider that the Environment Agency is giving them valuable information that may save them money and heartache in the future.

The real message in these maps is not one of a blight on homes but that families can take measures to ensure their homes (and more importantly themselves) are protected should we suffer anything like the July 2007 floods again.

The problem for many homes then was they were not prepared.

Should such a disaster occur again then, no matter what insurance cover you have, the financial cost and displacement for months would be far more painful than a rise in insurance premiums.