Flood Insurance: What it can mean to you and your property
After the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, most residents of New York and New Jersey became painfully aware that standard home insurance DOES NOT cover damages or losses from flooding. The coverage is provided under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). As your full service insurance agent, Lupton and Luce can provide coverage to our customers through this program. The drawback is the 30 day waiting period for coverage to take effect.  Considering that flooding is the most common disaster in the U.S.A., we urge you to learn more about how to protect your property by talking to us about your risk from flooding.
The original NFIP legislation, passed in 1968, made it possible for property owners in participating communities to buy flood insurance if their community adopted floodplain management ordinances and set higher standards for new home construction. In 2013, Congress extended the program until 2018 and made significant reforms designed to make the program more financially stable. But considering the astronomical losses suffered last year from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, more reforms will probably be required impacting rates and floodplain mapping.
We urge you to educate yourself on NFIP and take action now before the rates go up again. One of our Customer Service Reps would be glad to talk to you about the program and give you a quote. Or you can go online to floodsmart.gov for additional information and answers to frequently asked questions about flood insurance. The site also contains a FEMA Interactive data visualization tool that shows how many flooding events have occurred in counties on Long Island.
Just remember, the damage from just one inch of water can cost more than $20,000. FEMA disaster relief only allows up to $35,000 in aid and those grants are likely to be SBA loans that must be repaid. Only 20% of those impacted last year in Texas had flood insurance. And that insurance was the difference in being able to rebuild and recover financially for those Texas homeowners. That’s why we urge you take immediate action to assess your risks by giving us a call. June 1st was the official start of the 2018 Hurricane Season. And we’ve already had the first named storm.
