Don't Let a Flood Drown Your Finances

If you’re not in a high-risk area, you probably don’t worry much about water damage to your home or property. But the fact is, approximately one-quarter of all flood loss occurs in areas considered at a low to moderate risk for flooding.

What Does Flood Insurance Cover?

In the event of a flood, your National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policy covers direct physical losses to your structure and belongings.

What is not covered by flood insurance?

When determining coverage, the cause of flooding matters.

Flood insurance covers losses directly caused by flooding. In simple terms, a flood is an excess of water on land that is normally dry, affecting two or more acres of land or two or more properties.

For example, damage caused by a sewer backup is covered if the backup is a direct result of flooding. The damage is not covered if the sewer backup is not caused directly by flooding.

No matter how safe you think you are, houses in every type of location suffer flood damage. And recent changes in weather patterns have triggered numerous highly publicized cases of rivers and lakes overflowing and leaving supposedly “safe” zones deep underwater.

In fact, did you know that floods are the most costly natural disaster in the U.S. every year? Flood losses total more than a billion dollars annually. Thousands of families have not only lost their homes but suffered utter financial ruin due to flooding. Many mistakenly believed their homeowner’s policy would protect them, only to find out the hard way that the typical homeowner’s policy doesn’t cover flood damage at all. Don’t let a flood drown your finances.