A few years ago, not many people even really considered flood insurance, but the impact of hurricane Katrina, and the news coverage that followed it, changed that. It is now at the forefront of many people’s minds when it comes to considering how well protected financially their, and their family’s, home and belongings are.

We learned many lessons from that experience and others like it, the most important being that we all need to take a closer look at our flood coverage, and exactly what it encompasses. Still, most consumers are still unsure as to exactly which insurance covers what damage.

A common mistake is to assume that all damage caused by water is covered under a flood policy, when this is not the point of view that insurance companies take. By just relying on what you think is good common sense, you are actually leaving yourself wide open, as insurance policies do not follow the rules of common sense.

Most flood insurance policies are really specific and technical, with a common stipulation being that a payout will only be made for damage caused by water coming from a source that does not normally come into contact with your home. Therefore, you would be covered if a nearby river overflowed and flooded your house, but maybe not if the flooding was caused only by excessive rain.

Water seeping up through the ground into your basement may not necessarily be included under flood coverage. That will depend on whether you live in a designated flood plain and what kind of flood related building plans are in place in your area.

A common stipulation in flood insurance policies to be aware of is that water damage must affect at least a two-acre area in order to be considered as ‘flooding’. So, if only you are affected by a flood, however it may have occurred, it is unlikely that any payout will be made to you.

Another area where people often get caught out is by taking out flood insurance at the last minute, as news begins to break that severely bad weather is expected. Quite often, flood insurance policies have a 30-day waiting period before becoming active, so those who do this are actually not covered at all.

There is no need to worry about finding yourself unprepared and under-covered though, as an independent flood insurance agent can be consulted. They will explain the pros and cons of all of the various types of flood insurance policies available, and will ensure that you are fully covered for all of the situations that you are most concerned about.

If you are in the market for flood insurance, search no further than http://www.henryinsurance.com to find the best suitable flood insurance to suit your finances.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 2:47 am and is filed under Home Insurance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.