Do I Need Flood Insurance?
There comes a time when every zealous homeowner asks himself – usually at a very inconvenient hour, like 3 am: Do I need Flood Insurance?
The answer is: probably.
Here’s why: Most homeowners insurance policy, renter, landlord, and business insurance policies exclude coverage for flooding. And there used to be a time when one would only recommend flood insurance to people living near the beach and on the coast. But that time has long passed. A flood can be caused by a number of things. Not only by water surges caused by a high tide, but also due to outdated sewer and urbanization projects. With the rise of climate change and human action in leveling forests, overbuilding the land, and increasing use of asphalt all reduced the soil's natural ability to absorb excess water, compounding the risk of disastrous flooding. Combining that with the fact that sea levels have been rising and rains have become heavier and more frequent, floods have become more and more common in every area of the country. A heavy prolonged rain can be enough to flood sections of a city.
So, do you need Flood Insurance? We’ll say this: you should learn about your area’s history with floods to see if it’s something very urgent. But even if there hasn’t been a lot of floods, if you can; do it. Don’t save pennies: In 2017 alone 116 people died in America because of floods. Yes, a life is something you can insure but can never take back and it’s an extreme example; but let’s tone it down then: if that much people died because of floods, can you imagine the number of homes that get damaged due to flood? Here’s another scary number: over 90% of all presidential-declared disasters in the United States are flood related.
Flood insurance is such an important thing that, in some areas, is not a matter of “Do I need Flood Insurance” – it’s mandatory! Annapolis Real Estate Agents, for instance, will be quick to point out to home buyers that they should include flood insurance in their budget to figure out how much they can offer on a house and determine how much they can pay on a mortgage, because most parts of the city require flood insurance and any mortgage company that is not willing to lose their asset will force you to get one in order to lend you the money.
If you need some additional resource, check our Worst Cities for Natural Disasters article!
Popular Insurance Questions
Popular Insurance Glossary Terms
Insurance coverages for businesses, commercial institutions, and professional organizations, as contrasted with personal insurance. ...
Money expended with the object of profit. The goal of an insurance company is to invest in assets with a rate of return greater than that to be paid out as benefits under its policies. ...
Peril that occurs when personal property of two or more people is mixed to such an extent that any one owner can no longer identify his or her property. ...
Termination of a contractual obligation for immediate performance. For example, under the homeowners insurance policy, if the insurer refuses to pay a claim, the insured (if not satisfied ...
Provision in Social Security: to receive retirement monthly income, a participant must have earned income on which Social Security taxes were paid for at least 10 years or 40 quarters. ...
Risk management control device used to minimize accidents and injuries to employees resulting from an unsafe working environment. For example, potential cumulative trauma disorders losses ...
Provides the same coverage as a comprehensive personal liability insurance policy, plus coverage to exposures that are peculiar to farms, such as farm business operations, farm employees ...
Same as term Debit Insurance: life insurance on which a premium is collected on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis, usually at the home of a policyholder. The face value of the policy is ...
Same as term Calendar Year Experience: paid loss experience for the period of time from January 1 to December 31 of a specified year (not necessarily the current year). ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.