Fla lawmakers force homeowners to buy flood insurance

Table of Content

• Why Do Insurance Rates Increase Over Time?
• What is flood insurance coverage?
• What Else Does Homeowners Insurance Cover?
• Other structures coverage
• Getting flood insurance may be a good idea—and may even be required.
• What does flood insurance not cover?
• Overflow of appliances
• Does Homeowners Insurance Cover Rain or Flood Damage?

Use private insurers to get coverage or use the National Flood Insurance Program . Luckily, your homeowners insurance covers damages caused by a broad range of calamities, and that may include water damage, at least in some cases. But while homeowners insurance will often cover certain types of water damage, it can be difficult to know what is and isn’t covered. If you’re wondering whether your homeowners insurance covers water damage, or how to prevent the issue from getting worse, here’s what you should know.

Homeowners insurance isn’t designed to handle flood damage, and it won’t pay to help you with repairs. Be prepared to give details about what happened and estimate the cost of the damage. It’s a good idea to include documentation that supports the claim, such as photos or videos of the damage.

Why Do Insurance Rates Increase Over Time?

For example, homeowners policies typically exclude coverage for flood damage, but this protection is available through a separate flood policy. Many insurance policies exclude wear and tear, since that kind of damage isn't accidental. Your standard home insurance policy is intended to cover your home itself, the items in your home, and any costs that may arise from an injury or damage to your property.

Fortunately, there is typically no hurricane deductible for renters insurance policies – only the standard deductible. Almost every state on the Atlantic coast allows insurance companies to require a separate hurricane deductible. It is possible that you may have the option to pay a higher premium to lower your fixed deductible. Other structures coverage pays to repair or replace detached structures on your property, including garages, sheds, barns, gazebos and more. This coverage is based on a percentage, generally 10%, of your dwelling coverage limit.

What is flood insurance coverage?

“It might be a financial burden for some families, but at the same time, if you are completely devastated, how do you recover from flood-related storm damage if you have no coverage? The requirement comes as federal lawmakers and officials are struggling to get more homeowners across the country to buy flood insurance and protect themselves financially against climate change. An act of God is a legal term describing events outside human control, such as floods or other natural disasters, for which no one can be held accountable for themself.

Although rare, a flood add-on is available from a few companies. Standard home insurance policies cover many types of water damage, but the damage caused by floods is not covered. Considering that just a single inch of water can result in $25,000 in damage, flood insurance may be an important purchase.

What Else Does Homeowners Insurance Cover?

Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers. A hurricane moratorium is a period of time after a hurricane is forecasted when insurance companies will not write new policies or allow coverage updates to existing policies. The moratorium is usually put into effect once a hurricane watch or warning has been issued by the NOAA.

Citizens covers 1.2 million properties — nearly triple the number it covered three years ago. All policyholders will have to purchase flood insurance regardless of whether they’re in areas prone to inundation. The requirement will be phased in over the next four years, starting in April with people who own property in a flood zone. Your homeowners insurance covers the medical expenses another person incurs when they are hurt on your property or by someone in your household, including your family pet. If you rent out your home to a tenant, personal property coverage would not include their belongings—the tenant would need to purchase a separate renters insurance policy.

The best defense against a flooded basement is a functioning sump pump that pushes the water out. Preventing a flood from occurring in the first place will usually be the cheapest and least disruptive option, especially if you have a finished basement. If your sump pump fails as well, there is additional “sump pump coverage” you can buy as part of your home insurance policy that ensures your basement up to $25,000 in case of pump failure. Of course, it would have to be a malfunction and not a result of the poor upkeep of the system.

It’s important to review the “Duties in the Event of a Loss” section of your homeowners insurance policy to understand what to do to prevent further damage should a claim situation occur. Unfortunately, a standard homeowners insurance policy won’t cover every type of water damage. Here’s a guide to what’s covered, what isn’t and how you can make the most of your claim.

Getting flood insurance may be a good idea—and may even be required.

Certain causes of water damage aren’t covered, including flooding and lack of maintenance. Flooding from an extreme weather event is so common and apt to cause serious damage that all home insurers can’t provide coverage for it in standard home insurance. Bankrate is compensated in exchange for featured placement of sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. This compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear. Bankrate.com does not include all companies or all available products. Until relatively recently, flood insurance was available exclusively through the NFIP, meaning you had no choice where to get your coverage.

A home insurance policy typically covers sudden and accidental water damage from causes such as burst pipes or failing appliances. It usually won’t cover water damage from flooding or lack of maintenance. Because the risk of flooding is present across nearly the entire country, most homeowners should at least consider buying a flood insurance policy. If you have a mortgage and you live in a high-risk flood zone, you’ll likely be required to carry a policy.

What does flood insurance not cover?

The Florida flood-insurance requirement was included in an expansive bill approved by the state Legislature during a special session this week to revive the state’s crumbling insurance sector. Just because your home is located outside a flood zone doesn’t mean it will never experience a flood. It just means that the risk of a flood is less than 1 in 100 each year. Unfortunately, your unlucky year could be right around the corner. Flood zones—technically called Special Flood Hazard Areas —are designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency . You can look up your address on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center website to see a map of flood zones in your area.