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Monday, September 04, 2017

The Next Shock For Texans: Insurance Often Doesn't Cover Floods

A complete assessment of the property damage wrought by Hurricane Harvey will take weeks, if not months, to deliver. But as the first disaster victims return to their homes, some are being forced to confront an unfortunate reality: Gaps in their homeowners’ insurance that will leave them on the hook for thousands of dollars’ worth of damages.

According to analytics firm CoreLogic, hundreds of thousands of affected residents in Texas and Louisiana aren’t insured for flooding damage. The firm estimated that residential flooding has caused $25 billion to $37 billion in damage spread across 70 counties in Texas and Louisiana hit by Harvey. Of that, about 70%—or $18 billion to $27 billion—is uninsured.

Scientists have confirmed that Harvey caused a "1-in-1,000-year flood" and that the total cost of property damage and lost productivitycould be as high as $190 billion.

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11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Flood insurance covers floods.

If you want flood insurance, buy it.

(Or don't pay for it, just wait until your place floods and the government will make the taxpayers pay for it.)

Anonymous said...

Does is make a difference if the flood is from rising waters coming in your house or if the hurricane ripped off the roof and the ensuing rain flooded it?

Anonymous said...

Insurance companies do not sell flood insurance. You can only buy flood insurance from the government. You can only buy flood insurance if you live in a designated flood area.

Anonymous said...

6:15
You can NOT buy insurance directly from the government. You have to go through an insurance agent.

Anonymous said...

You can in fact buy FEMA flood insurance even if you don't live in a flood zone. Insurense companies do "sell" flood insurance policies that they purchase from FEMA. I would know because I have flood insurance on my home, yet don't live in a flood zone, and I purchased it through the company that my home owner's insurance policy is through.

Anonymous said...

You are correct 7:34 pm.
I did the same.

Anonymous said...

Saw on a documentary last night how the Insurance Companies denied so many claims of people who had it from Hurricane Sandy. They were rigging the engineers reports of the loss and were not paying the people what they owed them. Better check out your Flood Insurance carefully and what is covered. If you need to use it check out the claim closely!!!

Anonymous said...

when house floods, set it on fire b y accidentally grilling inside since the power was out.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...

when house floods, set it on fire b y accidentally grilling inside since the power was out.

September 4, 2017 at 10:25 PM:

There are long prison sentences for arson. I wouldn't recommend it.

Anonymous said...

With an elevation survey, anyone can get flood insurance from their insurance company. The insurance rate for the flood insurance will depend on how much higher than the known risk of flooding, that your house sits on. The insurance can be almost nothing, if your house sits on high enough land.

Anonymous said...

Insurance is a scam..even when you have it for thirty years, the minute you claim they stick it to you! Then the company drops you or raises your rates! This exact scenario happened to my mother. NEVER had a claim and they double her rate after one claim from a storm.