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Lessons from the 2017 Hurricane Season: Do You Have Flood Insurance?

The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season took less than a month to become one of the worst in recorded history.

Hurricane Harvey made landfall in southeast Texas on August 25 as a Category 4 storm with winds of 130 mph. The storm surge increased the water and tides to more than 12 feet above ground level in some places. Harvey broke rain records as he meandered for days, with some areas receiving more than 40 inches of rain in less than 48 hours.

Hurricane Irma hit Florida on September 10 as a Category 4 storm. According to researchers, Irma is one of the most powerful storms to roam the Atlantic basin in more than a decade. Irma had sustained winds of 185 mph for 37 hours, which is the longest cyclone in the world that has maintained that level of intensity.

On September 20, Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm with winds of 150 mph. The entire island suffered catastrophic damage. In some places, the damage was absolute.

As an independent insurance agent living and working in South Florida for more than 30 years, preparing for and recovering after storms is nothing new. But this year it was different. As Hurricane Irma moved toward the southeastern coast of the United States, we received an unprecedented number of calls about flood insurance. Why?

They all saw the catastrophic flooding in Texas caused by Hurricane Harvey just weeks earlier. The damage was devastating. So was the news that nearly 80% of homeowners in the counties most directly affected by the floods did not have flood insurance.

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), floods are the most common and costly natural disaster. FEMA’s flood hazard mapping program is used to identify flood hazards, assess flood risks, and determine flood insurance requirements.

Unfortunately, many home and business owners refuse to purchase flood insurance simply because they are not located in a high-risk flood zone. Hurricane Harvey taught us that when it comes to flooding, Mother Nature doesn’t pay attention to FEMA’s flood zone maps. Neither should you.

Flood zones are always remapped, but it is a long process that can take years. Updated maps quickly become outdated. Furthermore, the process of identifying properties susceptible to flooding is not a perfect science. For example, flood zone determinations do not adequately consider:

  • localized drainage problems;
  • long-term erosion;
  • ongoing development;
  • topographic variations in individual properties; gold
  • the failure of flood control systems.

This is why everyone should seriously consider flood insurance, regardless of whether they are located in a high-risk flood zone. Premiums are relatively affordable, especially when you consider the risks assumed by a flood insurance policy, such as:

  • overflow of inland or tidal waters;
  • collapse of the land along a body of water by waves or currents; and
  • rapid accumulation of surface water from any source, including blocked storm drains and broken water pipes below the surface of the ground.

Uninsured flood damage can devastate any home or business. Over the course of a few weeks, we have seen not one, not two, but three hurricanes make landfall that are among the most powerful storms in recorded history. This is why those who rely on flood zone maps to justify their decision not to purchase flood insurance should seriously reconsider.

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