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Half a million homes and businesses threatened by flooding will be automatically signed up to a free flood warning phone service, the Environment Agency said today.
The move will more than double the number of at-risk properties registered with the scheme to almost a million.
Until now people signed up voluntarily to the service but under the new system, they will be registered automatically and will have to opt out if they do not want to receive the free flood warnings.
Extending the service was one of the one of the recommendations in the Pitt Review into the devastating summer 2007 floods which inundated parts of Yorkshire, the Midlands and the West Country.
Lord Chris Smith, Environment Agency chairman, said the latest flooding events 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."
From the end of February the Environment Agency will issue free flood warnings to the additional 500,000 properties with a landline that are at risk of river or sea flooding.
The Floodline Warnings Direct service provides flood warnings to homes at risk of sea or river flooding by telephone, mobile, email, text message, fax or pager.
Environment secretary Hilary Benn said: "Flooding is devastating for those affected.
"We have seen how effective flood warnings can be during the
recent flooding in Cumbria and I hope extending flood warnings will
help more people protect themselves and their homes."
