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This Is Huge! Flood Insurance Still Relatively Rare In Northeast, Standard Homeowners Policies Don’t Cover Flooding Damage!!
Many homeowners who suffered losses because of flooding from Hurricane Sandy are likely to find themselves out of luck. Standard homeowners policies don’t cover flooding damage, and the vast majority of homeowners don’t have flood insurance.
Yet it’s likely that many Northeasterners will purchase it in coming months, hoping they’ll be covered the next time around, at a cost averaging around $600 a year.
That’s what happened after Hurricane Irene triggered flooding across 13 Eastern states in August 2011. An annual survey by the insurance industry found that flood coverage in the Northeast rose to 14 percent of homeowners in May from 5 percent before Irene hit.
The head of the industry’s Insurance Information Institute attributes the jump to Irene, which hit many inland areas where flooding is historically uncommon.
“Nothing sells flood insurance like a flood,” says Robert Hartwig, the organization’s president. “There will be many people in parts of the Northeast this week who will be very happy that they spent a few hundred dollars to buy flood insurance this year.”
Nearly all flood coverage is purchased through the government’s National Flood Insurance Program. Homeowners, renters and business owners in participating communities are eligible to purchase federally backed policies, typically through private insurers that market the coverage. Information is available at www.FloodSmart.gov .
Policies typically cost around $600 a year, but can start as low as $129 in low-risk areas, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which administers the program. The average claim paid last year was more than $28,000. Coverage is provided for up to $250,000 for the home itself, and $100,000 for possessions.
