Do You Really Need Flood Insurance?

Since I live on the East Coast, the main subject of conversation last week was Hurricane Irene. Fortunately, we were not in the storm?s path (this time around), but that feeling of relief is always quickly replaced with a feeling of empathy for those who are not as fortunate. The focus always seems to be on the wind speed and what category is the storm, but the most of the damage comes from the flooding.

Now, even if you don?t live on the coast and in the path of hurricanes, there are lots of areas of the country that have to deal with flooding. What?s amazing though is the amount of people that don?t carry flood insurance:

?Many Americans underestimate the risk of flood damage [from a hurricane],? said Michael Barry, a spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute.

According to Barry, only 20% of all U.S. homes are covered by flood insurance.

Regular homeowner?s insurance policies will pay for losses from wind, say if a roof blows off or a window comes crashing in, but they won?t cover damage due to flooding, according to Barry.

To cover floods, homeowner?s need to buy a separate flood insurance policy that covers damage specifically from flooding due to a storm surges, torrential rains or other acts of nature.

Read the full article here.

If you live in a flood prone area at all, it makes sense to me to carry flood insurance in addition to your homeowner?s insurance policy. The cost is very affordable ? usually a couple of hundred bucks ? and then in the event of a flood disaster, you can let your two insurance companies bicker over who is going to pay what because you?ll have your backside covered. While I?m a risk-taker in a lot of ways, this is one risk that I would not leave to chance.

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Source: http://www.simplifiedrelocation.com/blog/177/do-you-need-flood-insurance/

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