Unacceptable risk'

Committee chairwoman Mary Creagh urged the government to pay for the upkeep of existing flood defences, as well as investing in new ones.

The government said it was investing "record amounts to protect the nation".

The EAC report follows the storms that hit the UK between December 2015 and January 2016, causing flooding in the north of England and Wales, as well as parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The losses suffered during storms Desmond, Eva and Frank led to insurance claims of £1.3bn.

'Unacceptable risk'

Dr Roger Pierce, whose York home flooded in December last year, told the BBC it had been "devastating".

"You've lost your heating, you've lost your lighting, it's desperately cold.... You realise that photographs and things on ground level in your house have all been destroyed," he said.