Ecclesiastical Insurance in line for business interuption to flooded environmental project in Cornwall

Ecclesiastical is in line for a business interuption claim following a flood at the Eden Project in Cornwall.

The Eden Project, which sits at the bottom of a quarry, has been forced to close until at the least the begining of next week.

The flooding caused tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage, leaving 2ft of water.

According to a statement, the operators of the eco centre, said: “There’s a lot of smart engineering and sophisticated drainage systems in place across the Eden site but despite this the extreme weather conditions throughout the night has caused major flooding.

“As the waters begin to recede, we’re now able to see the full extent of the damage that has been done by the torrential rain.

“The main areas that have been affected are our Link building that runs between the biomes, the area around the ice rink and our Visitor Centre at the top of the site. Thankfully, the million-plus plants in the biomes are okay and seem to have survived the torrential rains.”

Site safety manager Chris Hastings said: “Despite the fact Eden is well-engineered to deal with excess rainwater, the deluge that came through last night was more than the site could deal with.

“We’re assessing the damage and it’s worse than originally anticipated so we’re remaining closed until the end of Friday at the earliest. We’re pumping out water as quickly as possible so it doesn’t affect our neighbouring properties.

“Our thoughts are with the many others in surrounding areas who are affected by the flooding. Our Eden team are working round the clock and we really appreciate their team spirit.”