Do Not Wait Until The Creek Is Rising To Apply For Flood Insurance.

March 21, 2010 · Posted in Financial Education · Comment 

Do you need flood insurance? Or are those flood insurance ads on television just a ploy by the insurance companies to get you to buy yet another insurance policy? Floods are obviously quite common in low lying areas that are surrounded by water. In these areas, not having flood insurance is downright financially suicidal in the event of a serious storm.

But what about other areas that are not quite so low lying and are not quite so surrounded by water? Do homes in these areas have any real risk of being taken down by a flood? A simple flood that brings water into your home that only causes even an inch or two flooding in the house can cost literally thousands to tens of thousands of dollars. Two inches of water will impact everything from the floors and carpeting to the items that are touching the floor.

Of course, we expect people who live right next to large bodies of water to have flood insurance. They have a higher likelihood of experiencing a flood than others who live in typically drier regions. The typical flood scenario is always obvious to all of us. However, with new weather patterns there are more floods happening in more unlikely areas that are taking out the properties of higher lying areas that are removed from large bodies of water.

There is a lot of speculation that these new weather patterns that are causing unprecedented flooding in higher regions are caused by global warming. Since there are new and unusual weather patterns developing throughout the world, no one is immune to a flood any longer.

Floods can happen thanks to saturation of the ground just as easily as it can happen when ground water and rain water meet to cause excessive rain runoff which can lead to flooding. No matter where you live, you may very well find that you are suddenly noticing that there is an increase in water saturation after every rain.

Oversaturation is not the only thing that can cause sudden flooding. Large storms can also cause flooding. While we all know that hurricanes can cause floods, you might not know that Nor’easters and even large thunderstorm systems can also.

It takes very little time and money to get a good insurance policy that will protect you against the damage of even a small flood. While you might not have an ocean front view, flood waters can still manage to do a great deal of damage.