Flood Insurance Helps Create A Safer Future
Release Date: March 7, 2005
Release Number: 1539-396
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ORLANDO, Fla. --Flood insurance can help some Florida policyholders reduce losses from flooding in two ways.
First, flood insurance protects policyholders from flood damage – homeowners insurance policies do not cover damages caused by flooding. More than 32,500 Floridians who had taken the preventive measure of purchasing insurance administered by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) were able to file claims on flood damages to help with their recovery from flooding that occurred during the 2004 hurricane season. There are currently 1,871,521 flood insurance policies in effect throughout the state.
Secondly, flood insurance helps those policyholders who suffered extensive flood damage to pay for measures taken to prevent damages from future flooding under NFIP’s Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC) coverage. Flood insurance policyholders in high risk areas, also known as special flood hazard areas, can get up to $30,000 to help pay the costs to bring their home or business into compliance with their community’s floodplain ordinance.
“The National Flood Insurance Program has at its heart the goal of reducing the loss of life and property from floods,” said Craig Fugate, state coordinating officer for the State Emergency Response Team (SERT). “Florida communities that participate in the program are making a statement that they want to stop the cycle of spending public and private dollars on rebuilding in areas that repeatedly flood.”
Flood insurance is available to residents and business owners who live in communities that participate in the NFIP, which is underwritten by the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). These communities adopt zoning regulations that limit building new structures or rebuilding damaged structures in areas that receive repetitive flooding. With fewer buildings that are vulnerable to flood damage, there’s less heartache and financial loss when waters rise to flood stage.
If a home or business in a high risk area is substantially damaged by flooding, the owner may be required to meet certain building requirements to reduce future flood damage before repairing or rebuilding. ICC coverage in NFIP flood insurance policies can help cover the costs of meeting those requirements.
“The ICC coverage helps a policyholder finance rebuilding a home or business, when it has been substantially damaged, in such a way as to protect it from flooding and meet floodplain ordinances,” said Bill Carwile, federal coordinating officer.
Ways of complying with a community’s floodplain management ordinance include elevating the home or business to or above the flood elevation level adopted by the community, relocating the structure, or, for non-residential buildings only, using floodproofing techniques that make the building watertight.
A policyholder is eligible to file for ICC if the property is “substantially damaged” or the property has received “repetitive damage” and the community has adopted a repetitive-loss provision in its zoning regulations. A property is termed substantially damaged when the community has determined the cost to repair the flood-damaged building is 50 percent or more of its pre-disaster market value. Repetitive damage refers to a home or business that was damaged by flooding twice in the past 10 years, where the cost of repairing the flood damage equaled or exceeded 25 percent of the property market value at the time of each flood.
Flood insurance is sold and serviced through private insurance companies and agents. To find out about flood insurance or ICC coverage, contact your local insurance agent or call 1-800-427-2419.
The State Emergency Response Team (SERT) is a collaboration of Florida’s state agencies led by the state coordinating officer. SERT’s mission is to ensure that Florida is prepared to respond to emergencies, recover from them, and mitigate their impacts. Visit www.floridadisaster.org for the latest information on the hurricane relief efforts.
FEMA prepares the nation for all hazards and manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates mitigation activities, trains first responders, works with state and local emergency managers, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program and the U.S. Fire Administration. FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003.
Last Modified: Monday, 07-Mar-2005 14:55:34