Flood risk - implications?

[CalliopeSings]

We had an offer accepted on a house a few weeks ago and heard last week that the chain completed.
Our area was badly hit by flash floods yesterday and we heard the road our new house is on was flooded. We went to have a look and while the new house wasn't affected, others nearby were. We then looked up the flood risk on EA website and it is high risk for surface water flooding. From more googling it seems there is an underwater stream that joins a river that crosses under the road.
We've spoken to IFA this am who says mortgage lenders would wait for surveyors report before confirming mortgage. I think by the time we get that far we will have paid for searches, surveys etc and we should walk away now. I think flooding risk is only likely to get worse with climate change etc, insurance will be higher and if it did ever flood, would make selling very hard. DH is still keen though. We do love the house and lost out to FTBs and cash buyers on four other houses before we got this one so starting again (and probably losing our buyers too is heartsinking).
Any experiences with this, or other questions we should be asking before we decide?

We live in a popular area with many houses being at high risk from surface water flooding. We are moving from one high risk property to another! Neither have ever flooded, but that isn't to say they won't at some poing. However, if they did most of the town would be flooded, so we just take our chances. Insurance isn't astronomical; most insurance companies cede flood insurance to the government Flood: Re scheme which means you pay an amount based on council tax band on top of your regular home insurance. I guess, ultimately, it all depends on your attitude to risk.

Main thing to find out is if the property has flooded before. You could ask the buyers, I also think it's on the property information form and would come out in searches.

If the property hasn't flooded in the past and it's more than 400m from a water source then there probably won't be an issue with insurance.

Our new house came back as moderate/high risk on searches, but has never flooded in the past, it's 250m from a brook and when we looked up insurance quotes they were as we would expect. The standard questions don't ask about risk from those reports.

Also houses built before 2009 are able to get government backed (or subsidised?) insurance at reasonable rates.

If you do carry on with the purchase you might consider how to mitigate the impact of any flooding. For example no carpets downstairs, nothing stored in cardboard boxes in the shed, buying some sand bags to stick in the garage.