IT WILL never be possible to stem all floods because water will always find a way. Yet to be told that your home is officially at risk of flooding could be a considerable and costly shock.

There are many implications to such a warning, not least that home owners may well be forced to take out new and more expensive house insurance. An official notification of flooding risk could also reduce both the value and desirability of a property.

Under new Government regulations, introduced following the catastrophic floods in the Midlands in the Easter of 1998, hundreds of householders through North and East Yorkshire are to have their homes registered as being official flood risks.

To have such a notice slapped on your home will be a devastating blow for many people. To those who live in York, where the risk is mostly considered to be low, householders will rightly wonder why their homes should suffer what may well prove to be a blight. As £10 million was spent on a flood defence system for York after the floods of 1982, such a flood risk classification will seem unfair to many.

This is doubly so, for if the possibility of flooding from the Ouse and the Foss is described as low, why should your home be labelled officially as being at risk?

Outside of York, properties near other rivers, including the Derwent, will also be put on notice of risk assessment by the Environment Agency. While those living near to the Derwent know all too well that their homes could be flooded, they may well complain that the new classification is unjust.

After all, a cynic residing close to water might wonder if the agency is covering its own back, exaggerating the peril so that it can in effect say: well, we always said your home might be flooded.