Do you know what your flood insurance covers?

The last thing you want as a homeowner is to find out that the disaster that just happened in your home is not going to be covered by your insurance. This might be the only possible way to make a disaster worse after it has happened. Precisely, why it is crucial to know beforehand what your home resources and policies cover, what is possible and what is unlikely to happen, especially in dealing with a flood. 

Flood as defined is “the temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of 2+ acres and two or more properties of dry land.” How this translates to you and your home is that “flood” never refers to the water damage that starts in your home, for example like freezing or burst pipes. This type of flood, short of living in coastal edge zones or vast sloping land areas, will not affect a standard home. With the exception of extreme rainfall or storms, this would likely be an outside flood hazard. 

Flood insurance is oftentimes not part of a standard policy but can be purchased as a supplemental policy to your homeowners policy.

With standard accidents within the home that may produce flooding but not defined as above, that which is covered under standard homeowners insurance policies is:

• The damaged physical structure including foundational walls, foundational systems, walls, cabinets and bookshelves and bookcases. 
• Essential operating systems such as electrical, plumbing, water heaters, air conditioning systems, water tanks and pumps and solar energy systems. 
• Personal property which includes: appliances, personal effects such as clothing and electronics. 

There are numerous differences in flood and accident coverage. Again, being aware of what your policy covers and what is likely or not likely to happen in your area is of high importance. Knowing your resources before you need them is a crucial component to being a homeowner and part of that is knowing who to contact when you need to call in those resources.