Fast Facts on Flood

02 Jun 2011 | Admin

By: Ashley Western, MSM RMI Commercial Business Development Manager Did you know that most property policies exclude flood coverage? With all the flood seen by our neighboring states lately, surely you don't need a reminder as to how devastating a flood can be. However, here are some facts you may not know about floods:

Floods and flash floods happen in all 50 states.
Everyone lives in a flood zone.
Most homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage.
If you live in a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) or high-risk area and have a Federally backed mortgage, your mortgage lender requires you to have flood insurance.
Just an inch of water can cause costly damage to your property.
Flash floods often bring walls of water 10 to 20 feet high.
A car can easily be carried away by just two feet of floodwater.
Hurricanes, winter storms and snowmelt are common (but often overlooked) causes of flooding.
New land development can increase flood risk, especially if the construction changes natural runoff paths.
Federal disaster assistance is usually a loan that must be paid back with interest. For a $50,000 loan at 4% interest, your monthly payment would be around $240 a month ($2,880 a year) for 30 years. Compare that to a $100,000 flood insurance premium, which is about $400 a year ($33 a month).
If you live in a moderate-to-low risk area and are eligible for the Preferred Risk Policy, your flood insurance premium may be as low as $129 a year, including coverage for your property's contents.
You are eligible to purchase flood insurance as long as your community participates in the National Flood Insurance Program.
It takes 30 days after purchase for a policy to take effect, so it's important to buy insurance before the floodwaters start to rise.
In a high-risk area, your home is more than twice as likely to be damaged by flood than by fire.
Anyone can be financially vulnerable to floods. People outside of high-risk areas file over 20% of NFIP claims and receive one-third of disaster assistance for flooding.
The average annual U.S. flood losses in the past 10 years (2001-2010) were more than $2.7 billion.
When your community participates in the Community Rating System (CRS), you can qualify for an insurance premium discount of up to 45%.
Since 1978, the NFIP has paid over $36.9 billion for flood insurance claims and related costs (as of 12/31/10).
Over 5.5 million people currently hold flood insurance policies in more than 21,000 communities across the U.S.