Do I Really Need Flood Insurance?

Neighborhood Information

No one in Louisiana asks now if they need flood insurance! The painful truth is that regardless of where your home is, you need flood insurance if your community participates in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Some homes are high risk, some are low, but regardless of where you live, it is possible that one day your home will flood.

But it’s never flooded here before….

It may have flooded before your community began keeping records. It may flood tomorrow! According to the federal government, about a quarter of the flood insurance claims in America come from areas that were considered “minimum risk”. Homes in a high-risk area have a 26% chance of being flooded while the mortgage is still being paid off. To put that in perspective, the same homes have only a 9% chance of being destroyed by fire. Nevertheless, most people in St. Johns County wouldn’t dream of going without fire insurance!

My home owner’s insurance will cover me.

It is a common misconception that home owner’s insurance will cover the house regardless of what happens. The reality is that home owner’s insurance covers the home for nearly everything except flooding. Thousands of residents of Mississippi and Louisiana discovered this sad fact when their houses were flooded after Hurricane Katrina.

I can always get help from FEMA.

Only about 10% of the population that suffers flood damage each year receives FEMA assistance, and that assistance only helps cover the damage. The President has to declare a special emergency in your area in order to be eligible at all. More people receive Small Business Association (SBA) loans to help with flood damage, but these monies are a loan, not a grant, and must be paid back.

I’m renting, the owner’s insurance will cover me.

Insurance that the home owner carries only covers the property and the home owner’s contents, not the renter’s property or belongings. In order to be reimbursed for flood-related losses, renters must have their own flood policies.

It costs too much.

If you live in a lower risk area, flood policies for buildings may be as low as $39 a month, and both building and contents can be covered for as little as $120. When you consider what you may lose if a flood occurs, this is a very reasonable amount. Of course, as risk goes up, the cost of coverage rises. Still, you will be glad to have this insurance if the property floods

I’ll wait until Hurricane season to buy insurance.

People who own Jacksonville homes have learned that if you wait for Hurricane season to buy flood insurance, you may wait too long to do any good. It takes 30 days for flood insurance to take effect, so insure well before the season begins.

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