Flood Insurance

            If you own property in a high-risk flood area, your mortgage lender probably requires that you maintain flood insurance. But if your home or business real estate isn’t in a high risk area or if you purchased without any mortgage financing, you very likely do not have any flood insurance. Up to 25% of all flood claims occur in low-to-moderate risk areas. Sudden or heavy rains, melting snow, failed levees or dams and tropical storms and hurricanes can cause flooding even in higher elevations.

            In 1968, Congress created the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to oversee and financially support a program of national flood insurance. Through private insurance companies and agents, the NFIP makes federally-backed flood insurance available to homeowners, renters, and business owners in communities that cooperate in federal flood control planning.

            Even if you think you have comprehensive insurance coverage which covers flood damage, check your policy. If it’s not clear to you, call your agent for help. If you have a commercial property, consider asking your agent to make a personal inspection of the property. The Pennsylvania courts have found that insurance agents are not responsible continually to remind policy holders of their coverage limits or the terms of their policies. However, the courts have also found that commercial insurance agents are responsible to inspect properties and give necessary advice on flood insurance at the outset of a customer’s purchase of insurance or on a customer’s request. Your agent will be glad to advise you on flood insurance.

            Flood insurance is affordable. Because the federal government sets premium rates, insurance companies that sell flood insurance compete on service rather than on price. When shopping for flood insurance, ask for information on how quickly the company resolves and pays its claims. To find out which insurance companies sell flood insurance policies in our area ask your agent or visit www.fema.gov.

            Most people who suffer flood damage have no flood insurance. Since flood insurance definitely isn’t a standard provision in your homeowner’s or business premises coverage, you may well be completely without any coverage. Look into securing flood insurance before the next spring rains and hurricane seasons are upon us. And act now—flood insurance policies generally exclude coverage for the first thirty days of the policy. It’s too late to buy flood insurance when you hear that a major weather event is about to cause flooding near your home or business.

Stroudsburg Attorney Jane Roach has twenty five years of experience and provides representation in real estate transactions, title insurance and complex real estate litigation. For more information about Jane Roach, contact her at 470.421.7009 or visit her website at www.jroachlaw.com.