The Know Your Flood Risk campaign group said 67% of people had never checked the level cover they have on their home.

People in the North East were least likely to have carried out any checks with 88% of respondents never having checked their policies.

The campaign group said floods had occurred in parts of Hartlepool, Peterlee, East Durham, Morpeth and Redcar in the last two years.

In the South East, where many major floods have occurred in recent times, almost (45%) of people had knowledge of what was covered in their polices.

In January 2014 more than 100 flood warnings were issued in the South East region, prompting many people to check their home insurance.

However, new homeowners could be running a risk with regards to flooding as only one-in-five check the flood risk levels before buying a new home.

The survey identifies that the public are still not making flood checks part of their research process when moving into a new home; just 20% of respondents currently check the flood risk of their home before moving in, and only 11% check after.

Mary Dhonau, chief executive of the Know Your Flood Risk campaign, said: “People have short memories just three years ago in 2012 we had the second wettest summer on record and during the summer of 2007, 55,000 properties were flooded.

“With such wide-scale media coverage of the devastation that significant flood events cause, it’s surprising that that the public are not doing their homework when it comes to protecting their homes. With so many floods in recent times combined with flood insurance problems, it’s worrying that so few people check their flood risk before they buy.

“It is also interesting to see the level of confusion over who should protect homes from being flooded. It is clear that there is still a need to educate homeowners of their responsibility and to ensure they know where to go to find this information.”