Flood Insurance

Many people make the mistake of believing that flood insurance is only necessary in coastal or flood prone regions near rivers and lakes. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. Many floods happen each year in inland areas with no history of flooding.

Whether these floods are brought on by prolonged acts of nature or other events isn’t nearly as important as whether or not you have protection in the form of insurance for floods for your home and possessions when events such as this occur.

What is Flood Insurance?

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) was created with many purposes in mind. The most important purpose to consumers, though, was to make coverage for floods available for private and commercial businesses at a nominal monthly fee.

Flood coverage is available to varying degrees for homeowners, renters, and businesses. Coverage comes in two forms: structural insurance and contents coverage.

Coverage options and costs may vary according to whether you live in a low to moderate flood-risk area or in an area designated as a high-risk area. Don’t let this designation lead you astray though. Roughly one fourth of all flood claims against the national insurance program are located outside of high-risk areas.

Why Flood Insurance is Needed

You need insurance coverage for floods because you’re not immune to the devastating damage they leave behind. Even low-risk areas have had flooding events in the past. Insurance coverage for floods insulates families from financial devastation as the result of floods and helps you repair the damage the water leaves behind in its wake.

What Does it Cover?

Flood coverage provides protection for a wide range of events including heavy snowfall, excessive rain, melting snow, flash floods, tidal surges, and overflowing rivers, streams, lakes, and more.

What Does it Exclude?

Flood insurance does not provide the full scope of coverage for homes that other types of insurance provides. There are generally caps for the coverage of contents as well as exclusions for coverage extending to certain basement improvements along with items stored in the basement.

Why Choose Donnelly & Sproul?

Donnelly and Sproul is proud to offer a full-service insurance experience to residents of New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. This includes insurance for flooding through the NFIP and trusted insurance carriers.

We are dedicated to providing you with the insurance coverage you need, including insurance for floods, without weighing you down with high deductibles and other excess that increases costs without adding value.

We have served the community for nearly 90 years and look forward to another 90.

New Jersey Flooding in Review

Superstorm Sandy resulted in over $7.5 billion in flood claims with flooding impacting nearly 128,000 homes according to FEMA. The June 2006 flood affecting homes in NJ, NY, and PA had an impact on 6,423 homes costing roughly $228 million in flood claims.

One important thing to remember, when it comes to flooding, is that during Superstorm Sandy, inland homes were not spared the wrath of incoming water. While the major networks were focusing on the coastal impact of Sandy, Huffington Post covered little known damage in the aftermath affecting over 2,000 homes and other structures into small towns along the Hackensack River.

No amount of insurance coverage, for floods or other events will replace everything that is lost. However, having insurance coverage you can count on at times like this is a relief like no other. Don’t wait until it’s too late.