THE country is bracing itself for heavy rain and strong winds for a second weekend in a row as 1,200 mile-wide Storm Dennis hits.

National Severe Weather Warnings have been issued, with the worst affected areas predicted to receive up to 140mm of rainfall and gusts of 70mph.

While the Met Office says Storm Dennis will be less powerful than Storm Ciara, last weekend's heavy rainfall has left many areas water-logged and prone to flooding.

Will your home insurance cover you if your property is affected by Storm Dennis?

Approximately three quarters of homeowners in the UK have home insurance, and in many cases those insurance policies will cover all or part of the cost of any physical damage to the property that might be inflicted by Storm Dennis.

However, there are a few limitations and exclusions homeowners should be aware of, as Greg Wilson, founder of Quotezone.co.uk, points out: "Most home insurance policies have a clause that requires the policyholder to ensure their property is in a good state of repair and any issues to the physical fabric of the building are remedied as soon as possible. In practice that means that some homeowners could find that they might not be covered if heavy rainfall was able to damage the internal structure or contents of the property because the roof was in a bad state of repair.

"It's also important to bear in mind that if you live in a known flood zone it's possible your policy might specifically exclude coverage for flood damage, so it's worth double checking your policy documentation to confirm what is and isn't covered."

With rivers up and down the country bursting their banks during Storm Ciara, it is highly likely that many areas will experience flooding again once Storm Dennis hits.