What is the difference between Flood Insurance and Home Insurance?

When you first contemplate buying insurance, there are many various terms and policy choices that can be easily misinterpreted. Many consumers don’t realize the full scope of what their policies cover. What are the deductibles and limits on the policy? What special situations are covered in the auto or homeowners policies? All of these questions are easily answered by calling your insurance agent or scanning your policy.

But not all insurance misunderstandings are innocent. If you believe some insurable incident is covered by your existing auto or homeowners’ insurance policy and it really isn’t, you could be exposing yourself to financial risks that you are unable to face on your own. One cause of this type of uncertainty involves flood insurance.

Many consumers believe that flood insurance is included in their homeowners’ policy. Unfortunately, this assumption is so common that many policy holders don’t ask their insurance agent if their homeowners’ insurance policy will cover the destruction caused by flood waters—they just assume that it will.  This assumption can turn out to be a very costly mistake after a flood actually occurs. Presuming that their homeowners insurance policy provides flood coverage stops them from taking the required steps to find out the truth about flood insurance and protect their family and their assets accordingly.

Now that we know that homeowners insurance policies do not cover damage caused by flood waters, let’s determine what actually comprises of flood waters. The National Flood Insurance Program defines a flood as:
“A flood is a general and temporary condition where two or more acres of normally dry land or two or more properties are inundated by water or mudflow.”

The definition of a flood is simple to understand, but the reason that many homeowners think it’s included in their insurance policy is because many of the events that can cause floods cause other damages that are covered under a homeowners insurance policy. For instance, a hurricane may cause wind damage to your home that is covered in your policy, but it may also cause normally dry land to be briefly flooded by water, which could seep into your house and damage your floors and furniture—but because those are flood waters, they will only be covered if you have a flood policy.

So call us to get your flood policy in place today, whether you live in a flood zone or not. It’s protection that isn’t covered in your homeowners policy but needs to be in place to keep your family safe. Call us today at (888) 269-6860.