Why buy flood insurance?

Flooding is the most common natural disaster in the United States. Structural flooding can be caused by storms, dams or levees failing, new development changing how water flows above and below ground, snowmelt, ice jams, and much more. Standard homeowner’s insurance policies do not cover floods. Flood insurance allows homeowners to recover faster and more fully. 

See FEMA's Fact Sheet on flood insurance for more information.

The cost of flooding

Flood insurance can protect you from the catastrophic financial impact of flooding. Just a few inches of water can mean thousands of dollars of loss to your home or business. FEMA has prepared a table of Estimated Flood Loss Potential for different sizes of homes.  These tables show the cost of flood damage from one inch to 48 inches of water. 

As long as your community participates in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), as a homeowner or business owner you can get building and contents coverage included in your NFIP policy. Renters can get coverage for contents only. Policies issued by the NFIP pay even if a federal disaster is not declared. 

Why do I need to rethink insurance?

If you were hit by a flood or other natural disaster today, would you have enough money to rebuild? The truth is, probably not. In fact, two out of every three homes in the United States are underinsured when it comes to natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods, and many don’t know it.  

Learn more with this video available from the FEMA website.

Video by Eugene Kinerney - Jun 08, 2018

View in FEMA Multimedia Library