Want to know why you need flood insurance?
- Floods and flash floods happen in all 50 states.
- Everyone lives in a flood zone.
- For more information about the program and access information on policy and claim statistics, visit the National Flood Insurance Program website from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
- Most homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage.
- If you live in a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) or high-risk area and have a Federally backed mortgage, your mortgage lender requires you to have flood insurance.
- Just an inch of water can cause costly damage to your property.
- Flash floods often bring walls of water 10 to 20 feet high.
- A car can easily be carried away by just two feet of floodwater.
- Hurricanes, winter storms and snowmelt are common (but often overlooked) causes of flooding.
- New land development can increase flood risk, especially if the construction changes natural runoff paths.
- Federal disaster assistance is usually a loan that must be paid back with interest.
- For a $50,000 loan at 4% interest, your monthly payment would be around $240 a month ($2,880 a year) for 30 years.
- Compare that to a $100,000 flood insurance premium, which is about $400 a year ($33 a month).
- If you live in a moderate-to-low risk area and are eligible for the Preferred Risk Policy, your flood insurance premium may be as low as $129 a year, including coverage for your property's contents.
- You are eligible to purchase flood insurance as long as your community participates in the National Flood Insurance Program.
- It takes 30 days after purchase for a policy to take effect, so it's important to buy insurance before the floodwaters start to rise.
- In a high-risk area, your home is more than twice as likely to be damaged by flood than by fire.
- Last year, about 25% of all claims paid by the NFIP were for policies in moderate-to-low risk communities.
- The average annual U.S. flood losses in the past 10 years (1994-2004) were more than $2.4 billion.
- When your community participates in the Community Rating System (CRS ), you can qualify for an insurance premium discount of up to 45%.
- Learn more about CRS Rating system by visiting the National Flood Insurance Program Community Rating System from FEMA.
- Since 1978, the NFIP has paid over $36 billion for flood insurance claims and related costs (as of 3/22/10).
- Over 5.5 million people currently hold flood insurance policies in more than 20,500 communities across the U.S.
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