Flooding is separate from typical US home insurance and many homeowners are not adequately covered
As millions of US residents begin working to file insurance claims on their homes in the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, many could be denied, particularly if their homes were damaged by flooding.
A quirk in the US home insurance market is that flood insurance is separate from typical home insurance, which usually covers wind damage from hurricanes but not flooding. Homeowners must purchase flood insurance separately if they want their homes protected against flooding.
And many don’t. In some areas where Hurricane Helene hit the hardest, less than 1% of homes had flood insurance when the storm hit. In Buncombe county in North Carolina, home to Asheville, only 0.9% of homes had flood insurance, according to data from the Insurance Information Institute.
The number of people with flood insurance in Florida, which was hit by Hurricane Milton two weeks after parts of the state were battered by Helene, is higher than in other parts of the country. But still, the take-up is low. In Sarasota county, which took a direct hit from Milton, just 23% of residents have flood insurance.
Hmmm, I don’t get this. Usually if you’re in a flood area the mortgage company requires flood insurance. If you don’t get it, they get it for you and send you the bill.
But as most are saying, it’s a scam. They will tell you you have flood insurance without mentioning that there are three different kinds of flood damage. Rising water is the one most of us think of, but there is flood damage cause by plumbing issues and finally wind driven water. To a home owner, it’s water damage. To an insurance company it’s an opportunity to either charge you three times or deny your claim.
It’s great!
Asheville is in the mountains, one of the reasons it was such a big story is that no one expected Asheville to flood. I’m not surprised almost no one up there has flood insurance.
Flood areas are defined as somewhere where there’s a 1 in a 100 chance of a flood happening. The problem is all the calculations for that are based on historic data, which is to say they don’t take into account climate change.
Water damage to your house is generally covered unless it’s specifically excluded (flood). Plumbing leaks are usually covered, and the same goes for wind driven rain.
When it comes to your belongings, coverage is the opposite, meaning nothing is covered unless the policy specifically says it is. Plumbing water damage is covered, but wind driven rain is only covered if an opening is created by the wind or hail. This could be as minor as a missing shingle.
Flood damage (the rising water kind) isn’t covered by homeowners insurance for the building or your belongings, but renters policies do typically cover flood damage.
I would expect that it wouldn’t be considered a flood zone if it took a hurricane to flood it.
That’s what a coastal flood zone is lol.
Edit:since i’m getting downvoted to hell,
https://www.floodsmart.gov/flood-zones-and-maps#:~:text=A flood zone is a,collectively on a flood map.
Asheville is in the mountains
Which is not the same as a flood zone. A costal flood zone is super vague and covers an extremely large area. The bar for requiring insurance is rightfully not that low.
Some people own their homes and don’t have mortgages.
Yes but it’s very few.