The National Weather Service continues its annual Flood Safety Awareness Week campaign today with the theme of flooding and flood insurance.
All types of flooding can be a threat to life and property. Flooding causes more damage in the United States than any other severe weather related event costing an average of $4.6 billion a year. Just one inch of water can cause costly damage to your property. Flood losses are not covered by homeowner insurance policies, however you can purchase National Flood Insurance from private insurance companies and agents. It takes 30 days after purchase for a policy to take effect, so it is important to buy insurance before floodwaters start to rise.
What is flood insurance?
In 1968, Congress created the National Flood Insurance Program, NFIP, in response to the rising cost of taxpayer funded disaster relief for flood victims and the increasing amount of damage caused by floods.
Why do I need flood insurance?
Flood losses are not covered by your homeowners insurance policy. Local flooding can happen in all parts of the country at almost any time of the year. Flooding causes more damage in the United States than any other weather related event, an average of $4.6 billion a year in the past 20 years.
How do I obtain a flood insurance policy?
You can purchase National Flood Insurance from private insurance companies and agents. In fact, you may be able to purchase it with a credit card. Currently...there are over 100 insurance companies that sell National Flood Insurance coverage in addition to some 60,000 independent insurance agents.
If the seller of the property has flood insurance coverage on the building, that policy can be assigned to the buyer at the time of closing. If the mortgage company requires flood insurance as a condition of the loan, the lender may escrow flood insurance premiums making it easy to ensure that you will not get caught without flood insurance when a flood threatens your home.
Who can purchase flood insurance?
Anyone in a community that participates in the National Flood Insurance Program can purchase building and/or contents coverage, with a few exceptions. Coastal barrier resources system areas, otherwise protected areas and buildings principally below ground or entirely over water are not eligible for National Flood Insurance.
Flooding is the inundation of an established watercourse, such as a stream, river, or ditch. The most common time for Montana to experience flooding is during the spring snowmelt season.
Flash flooding is usually caused by excessive rainfall in a short period of time. Flash flooding typically occurs within a few hours of the onset of the rainfall. Dam or levee failures and ice jams can also cause flash flooding.
Here are a few terms you may hear the National Weather Service use related to flooding...
A flood watch or flash flood watch means conditions are favorable for flooding to occur.
A flood warning or flash flood warning means flooding is occurring or imminent.
Minor flooding is when minimal or no property damage is expected to occur…but the flooding causes some public threat or inconvenience.
Moderate flooding is when some inundation of structures and roads near streams will occur. Some evacuation of people and/or transfer of property to higher ground are necessary.
Major flooding is when there is extensive inundation of structures and roads along with possible significant evacuation of people and/or transfer of property to higher ground.
Additional information about flooding... Flood Safety Awareness Week and flood insurance is available at...
www.weather.gov/floodsafety
or through National Weather Service offices in Montana...
Your home has a 26% chance of being damaged by a flood during the course of a 30-year mortgage, compared to a 9% chance of fire.
Roughly 25% of all claims paid by the National Flood Insurance Program are for policies in low- to moderate-risk communities.
The average annual U.S. flood losses in the past 10 years (1996-2005) was more than $2.4 billion.
When your community participates in the Community Rating System (CRS), you can qualify for an insurance premium discount of up to 45%. Read more about CRS Ratings.
The National Flood Insurance Program awarded nearly $16 billion in flood claims in 2005.
Since 1978, the National Flood Insurance Program has paid $31.4 billion for flood insurance claims and related costs (as of 3/31/06).
Over 5 million people currently hold flood insurance policies in more than 20,200 communities across the U.S.
Fast Flood Facts
Source: FEMA - National Flood Insurance Program
Floods and flash floods happen in all 50 states.
Everyone lives in a flood zone. (For more information, visit the Frequently Asked Questions about Flood Zones)
Most homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage.
If you live in a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) or high risk area, your mortgage lender requires you to have flood insurance. (To find out if you are in an SFHA, visit What's Your Flood Risk?)
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 snow melt 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 $500 a year ($33 a month).
If you live in a low to moderate risk area and are eligible for the Preferred Risk Policy, your flood insurance premium may be as low as $112 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. Check the Community Status Book to see if your community is already an NFIP partner.
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.
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