Flood Insurance
What flood insurance covers
A flood insurance policy typically covers you if groundwater rises and floods your home—a situation that isn’t usually covered by home owners policies. Generally, most of your house is covered by flood insurance.
Specifically, the core parts of your home—like the home foundation and the systems that keep it running—are typically covered. Built-in home appliances, like refrigerators, dishwashers, and stoves, are typically covered as well.
Why flood insurance might be a must-have
Flooding can occur anywhere, anytime. Even if you are not required by your lender to have flood insurance, serious consideration should be given to purchasing it anyway. Flooding can come from surges generated by a coastal tropical storm, or from rising waters due to heavy inland rains or stormwater runoff.
Hazard insurance may cover fire and wind damage, but almost never covers damage from flooding. Flooding is by far nature’s most common natural disaster. Damages associated with floods can easily total $25,000 or more. One fact to consider is that 25% of all flood insurance claims are for structures outside of the area of special flood hazard. Just because your home or business is located outside of the area of special flood hazard doesn’t mean that you are not susceptible to flooding. Just because you haven’t experienced a flood in the past, doesn’t mean you won’t in the future. Flood risk isn’t just based on history, it’s also based on a number of factors: rainfall, river-flow and tidal-surge data, topography, flood-control measures, and changes due to building and development.