A "prioritised action plan" to improve flood protection will be published in the autumn, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn has said.
He was responding to an official review by Sir Michael Pitt into last summer's devastating floods.
Mr Benn said Ј5m would be spent on surface water management, Ј1m on making reservoirs safer and Ј250,000 on a nationwide flood response exercise.
An "opt-out" telephone flood warning system will also be set up.
Anyone living in a flood-prone area, apart from those who are ex-directory, will automatically be signed up for notification by the Environment Agency.
Mr Benn said: "We can never eliminate the risk of flooding, particularly as Gates fires air force chiefs over nuclear issue ...
Audio slideshow ...
Veteran MP Dunwoody dies ... climate change takes hold, but all of us - government, water and electricity providers, local councils and individuals - must take flood risk seriously and be as prepared as we can be deal to with it."
The 2007 deluge left 13 dead and 44,600 homes flooded. Nearly 5,000 people have still not returned to their homes.
Yorkshire and the Midlands were among the worst hit last year, and the Humber and south-west England were also severely affected.
Long-term plan
Sir Michael said "urgent and fundamental changes" were needed to improve flood defences.
He also recommended a longer-term, 25-year plan be drawn up on flooding and a dedicated Cabinet Committee created to oversee the issue.
Sir Michael said most of the recommendations were "not expensive" and could be achieved within the government's existing Ј800m-a-year flood defence budget for 2010 to 2011.
Mr Benn said much action had already been taken to protect communities at risk.
But shadow environment secretary Peter Ainsworth complained that previous warnings had been "largely ignored" by ministers and "more dithering" would simply not do.
(BBC)
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