Should You Get Flood Insurance?

1/5/2022 (Permalink)

These days, we have insurance for everything under the sun: car insurance, phone insurance, health insurance, pet insurance - the list could go on and on. If you own a home or business, you will have homeowners or commercial insurance. While having these securities may help you to sleep easy at night knowing that you are covered (in the case of a disaster) - it is important to consider: “Am I completely covered?”.

One common misconception or misunderstanding is when people think that their home or business is covered if a flood should happen. However, while regular insurance will help to pay for damages from water accidents, they will NOT cover flood damage. Because of this, many people opt to invest in flood insurance. However, there are still some that may look at flood insurance as “just another expense” or “surely my homeowners insurance will cover everything I need”. 

If that is your train of thought, you may want to think again. While homeowners insurance will cover damage that is sudden or accidental, it absolutely will NOT cover flood damage. Even if you do not live in a high risk area or flood plain, weather still happens. With the right combination of rainy days and sunless skies, or a bad winter storm, flooding does happen. Additionally, according to NDRC (the Natural Resource Defense Council, Inc.), if your home is flooded and it is valued at less than $250,000, it is very likely that there will be more damage than your home is even worth. 

If you are still unsure of whether or not flood insurance is an investment you want to make, ask for some more information from your insurance representative. Most insurance companies will offer it, but if not, they will be able to recommend another company.