Insurance Info

Floods come in all sizes, from the epic Noah and his ark size flood to the smaller, though damaging, flood from a broken dishwasher seal or hose. The time to prepare is before the water starts to flow.

For weather related floods, contact your county planning department to determine if your home is in a flood prone area. Find out what the local warning signals are. Know the evacuation routes and where emergency shelters are located. Practice flood evacuation with your family and have an out-of-state contact in case you get separated. Make sure everyone knows the contact’s name, address, and phone number. If you have a second floor, put valuables upstairs to avoid water damage.
Keep the gas tank full in your vehicle. Continue reading ‘Are You Ready For a Flood?’ »

If you want flood damage restoration you can take care of the damage yourself or hire a restoration service to do the work for you. If the flood was a result of some thunderstorm or hurricane your insurance will only pay for it if you have the special flood insurance coverage, which is sold separately from a homeowners insurance policy.

Who pays if the damage is not from a natural occurrence? If this flood was a result of a faulty toilet, for example, you’ll likely get a check from your home insurance company. If, for example, you knew that this toilet was faulty in the first place and did nothing about it, the insurance company won’t cover you because it considers the damage as negligence on your part. Continue reading ‘Flood Damage Restoration’ »

You may live anywhere in the United States. You can live in a desert or in a city that has no river or on the coast or near a lake. Wherever you are living, flooding can just happen whenever. Flooding is a natural disaster that human beings have no control of. In fact, floods take place in 50 states. If you’re asking the question of “Who needs home flood insurance?”, the answer is everyone does. It is important to have it and not need it that not have it but need it.

Let’s say that your home was flooded and you didn’t have insurance. You will burn a hole in your wallet just by paying for the reconstruction of your home and buying the assets that you lost. It is not expensive. The rates differ though. These depend on the kind of home owner you are as well as the risk of your area to flooding. You can even get cheap home flood insurance. You just have to know where to look. The federal law requires everyone to get insurance and that is why insurance companies can provide their customers with the home flood insurance that are right for their lifestyle and their budget. Continue reading ‘Home Flood Insurance a Necessity’ »

The definition of a flood is water overflowing from an expanse of water that will cover a large area of land that is usually dry. There are an incredible number of causes of floods, from intense rainfall from both ordinary storms, hurricanes, tropical storms and tsunamis to drainage obstructions such as breaking dams, landslides or glaciers, and even man-made causes such as overgrazing, overcultivation, improper disposal of waste, deforestation or poor water management.

Rivers or lakes that overflow their bounds or burst through levees may also cause floods. A lot of damage occurs to buildings, roads, houses, and people when water floods land. Floods are difficult to predict and tend to linger for long periods of time. Working to recover from a flood and all the related damage is an exhausting and emotional experience for most homeowners. Dealing with property damaged in a flood can be costly, even more so if it didn’t have flood insurance. Continue reading ‘Tips on Buying Insurance Cover For Floods’ »

When considering flood insurance, you may try to convince yourself that you live in an area where flooding is not a possibility. The reality is that flooding is possible anywhere. Of course to understand why this is, you first have to understand what a flood is. For example, did you know that a mudslide is considered a flood and in order to be compensated for mudslide-related damage you would be required to make a claim against your flood policy, not your homeowner’s policy? Water damage of any depth is considered a flood. This means that any damage caused to your home by things like a broken water hose from a dishwasher, a main breaking, or even someone’s sprinkler system going haywire would all be considered flood damage. Without a comprehensive flood insurance policy, you could very easily find yourself overwhelmed by the cost of repairing water or mud related damage to your home.

Another thing to consider is that some of the most devastating floods in recent history have occurred in areas that are not considered flood planes or at high risk for flooding. Hurricane Katrina is a perfect example as tens of thousands of people who had their homes destroyed by the storm have been unable to rebuild because they didn’t have flood insurance coverage. Simple and relatively inexpensive flood insurance could have mitigated the damages for thousands of people, if only policies had been in effect at the time of the storm. Continue reading ‘What is a Flood Anyway?’ »

You may think a flood can never happen to you, so you may think that you don’t need insurance coverage for floods. Or, you may simply not know if your insurance covers floods or not. Well, now is an excellent time to find out why you may need coverage and how you can find out if you have it or not.

Floods have always been an unwelcome surprise, and sometimes floods can happen where you don’t expect them to. Even in landlocked areas that are currently in a drought. The Atlanta, Georgia area, which is a good 4 hour drive from the shore, was considered to be in a drought when floods ravaged whole subdivisions and forced entire sections of the highway to be closed off late in September, 2009. It was a disaster, with too many lives lost and too much damage, with some estimates saying the damage is over $250 million. At this point, we can only be thankful that more people weren’t affected. Continue reading ‘Flood Damage – Are You Covered?’ »

Introduction
Flood Insurance protects your house & possessions from loss by rising water from the outside. Think about a river or creek overflowing into your home… a frightening thought. Homeowner’s and other property insurance specifically exclude this peril.

If you own a house in a known flood risk area (i.e., the 100-year floodplain) with a bank loan, your mortgage bank will normally require flood insurance. For most homeowners, handling this mortgage bank flood insurance requirement is all they focus on and they ignore their true flood hazard. Then when a major storm does come, they have inadequate flood insurance coverage often with too little coverage on their house (often only the home loan balance) and no contents protection. Continue reading ‘Understanding Flood Insurance’ »

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) regulates insurance agencies as well as the cost of insurance. They also deal with many of the flood damage claims that come in. In most states, you can purchase flood coverage through the same company that sells homeowner’s insurance, but in states where this is not available, the NFIP is there to help. However, many times, the insurance offered by the NFIP is inadequate in the event of a major flood. For this reason you will want to cover yourself with extra water damage coverage insurance.

Excess flood insurance is coverage for above and beyond the NFIP maximum set amounts. When you purchase primary insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program, you will be insured for a maximum of $250,000 for your home, $100,000 for the contents, and $500,000 for businesses. While this amount is typically adequate for modular homes and single-story houses, larger homes could be far more expensive. With these more expensive homes, $250,000 might make a large dent in the cost to cover minor flood damage, but in the event of severe damage or total loss, homeowners could be paying quite a bit out of pocket. This is why getting more insurance is important. Continue reading ‘Be Protected – Obtain an Excess Flood Insurance Quote’ »

We all want to stretch our wallets. If we can get something at a cheaper price but receive the same benefits, we do it. If we want flood insurance, we try to get cheap flood insurance. As long as we get the same benefits from the general flood insurance cost, we go for less.

If you reside in an area that is prone to flooding, you should definitely get it. Imagine the flood ravaging your home. Imagine how much you have to spend for damage control. Imagine the cost of replacing what you lost. Buying flood insurance is the best option for any homeowner. Continue reading ‘Cheap Flood Insurance Quotes – Protect Your Home From Flood Damage’ »

The flooding, during the summer of 2007, has saddled the UK insurance industry with a huge, one billion pound claims bill. More bad weather would push this figure even higher.

A 24-hour emergency helpline is offered to customers by most major insurers, to be used if they are flooded. You must make a call to this number as matter of urgency to find out how you should make your claim. A useful website, which is run by the Association of British Insurers, gives a list of help lines operated by the major insurance companies.

What is the next thing to do? – Try following these steps, they will act as a good guide to help make your claim successful. Continue reading ‘Making a Flood Claim on Your Home Insurance’ »