The Importance Of Having Flood Insurance If You Live In A Hurricane Region

Is your home ready for a hurricane? You might think that if your home is built up to code and you have homeowner’s insurance, then you’re good to go. However, these fierce storms pack a twofold punch. The first is wind damage, which after it breaks windows and knocks holes in your roof can lead to rain damage inside. The second is flood damage, often from storm surge, but it can also happen to back up rivers and streams and even a broken levee. Flood damage isn’t covered by your homeowners’ insurance, and this is a disturbing fact many homeowners might not even find out until they try and file claims after something has happened.

If you live any Gulf Coast state, ranging from Texas to the west side of Florida, then you need to be prepared for an almost inevitable hurricane hit. The same is also true on the Atlantic Coast, from the Florida Keys all the way up to Maine. Even spots that seem immune to direct hits, like the Virginia Beach area or New England, can still eventually see a direct hit or just suffer the heavy rains of a passing storm or its remnants. You also certainly need to be prepared for storm flooding if you live on an island, like in Hawaii, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, or Guam.

You might feel you’re safe by not being in a coastal state, or possibly being on the Pacific Coast. However, the storms that form on the Pacific side of Mexico once in a while turn right. Also, Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico storms are sometimes so potent and powerful that they wreak havoc in inland states like New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and West Virginia. The potential for flood damage from an ocean or see storm can happen in more states than not.

So, how do you get flood insurance? What does it cover? What are the limitations? Keep reading to learn answers to these questions and more.

Two abbreviations you need to know are FEMA and NFIP. The Federal Emergency Management Agency might be a government department you’re familiar with in the news, since they respond to many storms and other disasters. They also operate the National Flood Insurance Program, which offers flood insurance through industry agents and brokers. However, flood insurance isn’t actually available everywhere. You have to live in a community participating in the NFIP program, which means a municipality has agreed to both pass and then enforce specific laws regarding floodplain and storm water management.

You can learn if your location qualifies, as well as find an available agent, in one of two ways. Either visit their website at www.FloodSmart.gov or call their toll-free phone number at 1-888-379-9531.

There are maximum benefit levels for an NFIP flood insurance policy. Your property will be covered up to quarter million dollars, and you can also get another hundred thousand dollars coverage for contents. Coverage for property and contents are bought separately from one another. If you’d like more coverage than this, you’ll need to check the private insurance market for excess flood insurance. The typical NFIP flood insurance policy will run you about $700 annually.

In terms of contents coverage, the flood insurance will pay an actual cash value that it takes to replace lost or damage property. That’s not always the same as market value, so if you lose a really high-end television, you might have to shop for a cheaper one that is about the same size. Property damage coverage is more generous, especially if you insure a single-family home that you use as your primary residence. NFIP insurance typically covers 80 percent of replacement property costs, without taking depreciation into consideration.

There are many things that flood insurance won’t cover, however. The following subsections cover these limitations, so you’re not shocked at denied claims after the fact:

Water Has To Be From Outside The Home: If you have an overflowing toilet or burst pipes that create flooding, then this isn’t covered by your flood insurance. These kinds of losses are typically covered by your homeowners’ insurance though. Check with your broker or agent to see what policy covers what specifically to avoid gaps.

Landscaping And Swimming Pools: Your flood insurance won’t handle issues resulting from swimming pool issues that wind up flooding your home, even though some of that water might be technically from outside your home. You also won’t get reimbursed for flood damage that takes out or hurts your trees, flower beds, and vegetable gardens.

Business Interruption And/Or Living Expenses: If you have to stay in a hotel room until your home is safe for residence again, you won’t get reimbursed. Likewise, if you run a home business that has to stop or slow down operations for a while, your lost profits aren’t covered either.

Documents And Money: Cold hard cash and currency in your safe, along with stock certificates, bonds, and precious metals are all things that a flood might destroy, even in a safe. However, they won’t be replaced.

A Flood That Is Too Small: In order to qualify as a flood, the water that winds up resulting in damage must meet one of two criteria. It must either cover a minimum of two acres, or it must also impact at least one additional property.

Below-Ground Contents And Improvements: Finishing the walls in your basement can dramatically expand the usable square footage in your home, possibly giving you rental income from a lower-level apartment, extra storage, or even a space for your business. None of the structural improvements down there are covered. Nor is any physical property you store or use down there.

The First 30 Days: Trying to get your insurance in order with a storm bearing down on potential landfall? It’s obviously better to do all this before a storm than after, but it also might be too late for flood insurance. Most kinds of insurance apply their coverage on the very first day. However, flood insurance typically has a 30-day waiting period between the premium and coverage starting.

Flood insurance, from Procom Insurance Company-Miami Insurance Agency, will cover things homeowner’s policies won’t, but not everything. It also covers more than just hurricanes though, as you might need it for damage from non hurricane strength storms of heavy or prolonged nature, clogs in storm drainage systems, dam failures, mudslides, and even snowmelt, which is rarely an issue in hurricane-prone states.

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