Sunday, July 08, 2007
By Cindy V. Culp
Tribune-Herald staff writer
Johnnie Neckar turns his flat-bottom boat around after picking up a friend in front of his home in Downsville. The Brazos River breached its banks and flooded into the Honey Lane neighborhood on Thursday. The same area was flooded earlier this spring after heavy rains. (Jerry Larson/Waco Tribune-Herald)
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If you’ve been floating through all the recent rain confident your homeowner’s insurance policy will protect you from damage related to flooding, you’d better check the fine print.
Damage caused by flooding is almost always excluded from home insurance policies, whether that flooding is a hurricane-fueled wall of water or an inch of runoff from heavy rains. What’s more, damage caused by flooding adds up fast. Just a few inches of water inside your home will likely cost you thousands.
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The good news: The federal government has a program which makes flood insurance available to consumers for a fairly low fee. The yearly premium for most homes in this area is $200 to $300, and that covers both a home and its contents.
All homeowners have to do is ask for it.
But judging from local statistics, few are.
The policies are offered through the National Flood Insurance Program, which is administered through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It makes arrangements with insurance agents to sell and service the plans. In Texas, all of the major insurance companies participate.
In this region, McLennan County leads the way in policies issued, but the total is still only 611. That includes both homes and businesses.
Other nearby counties have far fewer. In Falls County, for example, only eight policies are in place.
Those low numbers are backed up by the comments of local insurance agents. Several interviewed by the Tribune-Herald said they’re lucky to write 20 flood insurance policies a year.
* Everyone lives in a flood zone. The question is whether it's a low-, moderate- or high-risk zone. High-risk properties are those in immediate danger of flooding from overflowing rivers or hard rains.
* Roughly 25 percent of all flood insurance claims come from low- and moderate-risk areas.
* A home has a 26 percent chance of being damaged by a flood during a 30-year mortgage, compared to a 9 percent chance of fire.
* Just an inch of water inside your home can cause thousands of dollars of damage, ruining things such as flooring, baseboard molding and bookshelves.
* Flash floods often bring walls of water that are 10 to 20 feet high.
* Flood history is only one element used to determine flood risk. Other factors include a community's rainfall and river flow data, topography, wind velocity, tidal surges, flood control measures, building development rules and community maps.
* If flooding is imminent, flood insurance can provide up to $1,000 reimbursement for expenses incurred to prevent damage, such as moving belongings to a rented storage space or buying sandbags and lumber to make a barricade.
* For an incident to be covered by flood insurance, at least two acres or two properties must be flooded. If just your home floods, it will not be covered.
* Furnace, water heater and air conditioner
* Debris clean-up
* Floor surfaces such as carpeting and tile
* Items ranging from clothing to artwork, if you insure the contents of your home along with the building itself
* What exactly will be covered in case of flood damage?
* How will my premium be affected by choosing coverage for the building only, versus coverage for the building and its contents?
* How will my premium be affected if I choose a higher deductible?
* What is the policy's annual fee?
* Are there any additional expenses or fees I should be aware of?
— Source: National Flood Insurance Program, administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency
Until Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita struck in 2005, it wasn’t unusual to have only one or two people a year request policies, Waco insurance agent David Wilson said. Even now, quite a few of the policies he writes are for people who live near a body of water and thus are required by their lenders to have flood insurance.
The numbers may creep up some, however. Some agents report that more people have been inquiring about flood insurance because of the recent weather, including extensive flooding across the state that has reportedly damaged or destroyed 1,000 homes.
Waco agent Fred Youmans said he has been getting more questions about policies, especially from people in outlying areas. Most live in a low-lying area or alongside a creek, he said.
Duane Barr, another Waco agent, also has seen increased interest. His office sends out mailers each year to remind people about flood insurance. But until the recent spate of rainy weather — 23 inches locally since May 1 — the notices didn’t elicit much response.
“It’s sometimes difficult to persuade people,” Barr said, adding that many don’t understand that just a few inches of water inside their home constitutes a flood.
The only downside to the recent inquiries, Youmans said, is that most flood policies don’t take effect until 30 days after purchase. So if people wait until they see the water level rising, they’re likely to face trouble. The sooner people talk to their insurance agents about their options, the better, he said.
People often think they don’t need flood insurance because they don’t live near a body of water, Youmans said. But government data shows that roughly 25 percent of all flood damage claims are paid out of policies involving low-risk areas, he said.
Often such claims are precipitated by flash floods, according to FEMA data. Making the problem worse, government officials say, is construction that alters the natural flow of water.
Youmans also noted that policies for homes in low- to moderate-risk areas usually cost only a few hundred dollars per year. That’s a bargain compared with policies for people who live in a flood plain or near a body of water. Those policies often cost several thousand dollars per year, he said.
“If it’s cheap, why not go ahead and get it?” he said.
Grateful for the policy
George Lowrie, 60, is one local resident who’s glad he has a flood policy. His home near Downsville is right on the Brazos River, and when heavy rains pummelled the area in March, it flooded.
Damage to the house was so severe that Lowrie and his wife, Sandy, have been living in a travel trailer since then. They’re making headway on repairs, though, thanks to money from their flood policy, he said.
The only hitch, Lowrie said, is that the policy was written to cover the actual cost of damages rather than the replacement value of his home and its contents. That stipulation hit the couple hard on personal property items, he said, since their depreciated value is considerably less than what it costs to replace them.
“You have to check your policies to make sure you have enough insurance,” he said.
Even so, Lowrie says he’s grateful for the flood policy. He recently upgraded it to cover replacement value, and it still only costs him between $400 and $500 a year. That’s a bargain when compared with the thousands of dollars of damage caused by a flood, he said.
Some of his neighbors didn’t have flood insurance when the river rose, Lowrie said, and they’re in a lot worse predicament than he is. The situation threatened to become more dire when high waters flooded the neighborhood again last week.
“I look around and I say, ‘I’m blessed,’ ” Lowrie said.
cculp@wacotrib.com
757-5744
In this context, "surface water" has been defined by the courts as water running over the ground due to rain or snow as it flows to a regular bed or channel. Once the water has reached a bed or channel, it no longer falls under the statute.
Remedies available include injunctive relief (a court order that forces the upper landowner to stop causing the diversion) as well as money damages. Sometimes the expenses incurred to prevent future problems are recoverable, as well. The statute of limitations is generally two years, with some exceptions.
When "flood waters" (water above the regular flow of a stream) from a river or creek overflow as a result of "gullies or sloughs" which have cut away or intersected the bank, the Water Code allows an affected landowner to fill those gullies or sloughs without liability to other property owners.
— Source: This summary is provided by Wesley Lloyd, an attorney who practices water law in the Waco office of Naman, Howell, Smith & Lee, LLP. This information should not be relied on as legal advice.
