FLOOD INSURANCE:
Let's talk about everyone's favorite dinner party topic!
(because all magic comes with a price, especially when you are living near the water.)
If these Houston-area homes do not have a basic Flood insurance policy,
who pays for the debris removal, cleanup, renovation and new appliances?
- WE CAN ONLY IMAGINE: Consider the heartbreak of losing your home to a 500-year flood, with replacement costs of $100,000 or more, then learning an annual $300-$400 policy would have covered it. (North Carolina rates from 2010.)
- INCONVENIENT TRUTH: The biggest misconception about home insurance? Damage from wind-driven water (storm surge) OR rainfall-induced flooding by a hurricane is NOT considered an insurable claim on a traditional homeowner's policy. But why?
- AGGRAVATING TWIST: The insurance industry states the wind was not the direct cause of water damage you claimed after the hurricane. The twist is that in scientific reality, it did. How is storm surge created? By low pressure and strong winds in the eyewall raising up the sea surface water level underneath the storm. This underscores the confusion: Many homeowners don't understand how storm surge damage can be denied when it actually generated by wind action. The solution: Flood insurance to avoid that argument or heartbreak.
- IN A FLOOD ZONE, AND DON'T KNOW IT? Even if you know your property is outside the high risk 100-year flood zone (known as Zone AE), it would be wise to determine in which zone it IS located. Perhaps you are BETWEEN the 100-year and 500-year zones? If not sure, learn more at FloodSmart.gov or this link to flood criteria with the National Flood Insurance Program. New flood policies may have a wait period before taking effect. The lessons from Harvey speak loudly about what happens when a homeowner thinks even basic Flood insurance is unnecessary.