Why Los Angeles Homeowners Need Flood Insurance

11/8/2019 (Permalink)

Just one inch of water can cause over $10,000 of damage to your home. Having flood insurance is vital to protect against a serious flood damage loss.

Following a dry and hot summer, most Los Angeles homeowners have one eye on the handful of wildfires burning nearby, and the other on Red Flag Warnings that portend increased wildfire risk.

But believe it or not, now is also a good time to get ready for wet weather, because, when rain storms do arrive following wildfires, they'll carry an increased risk for flooding and mudslides.

Every rainy season, yes, even in Los Angeles, brings the threat of flood damage to your home or business along with it. But following our spate of wildfires, the risk of flooding grows greater as the fires burn away vegetation that would normally soak up the rain.

Of course, most homeowners, and some renters, do carry insurance to protect themselves against property losses. However, flooding is one natural disaster that is not typically covered in an insurance policy.

This is in spite of the fact that flooding is, historically, the most common natural disaster in the world, surpassed only recently by wildfires across the U.S. And in California, the frequency of both wildfires and floods is only expected to increase.

Enter the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Established in 1968, the FEMA administered program "aims to reduce the impact of flooding on private and public structures. It does so by providing affordable insurance to property owners, renters and businesses and by encouraging communities to adopt and enforce floodplain management regulations."

You can purchasing an NFIP policy through an affiliated insurance agent, though they are only available if you live within a participating community (which appears to include most, if not all, cities in Los Angeles County).

Keep in mind that most flood disaster policies only cover flooding damage from a natural event. If the flooding was caused by a sewer back up or an overflowing toilet, it may not be covered by this particular type of policy.

There are also private flood insurance options, which can be less expensive and may provide higher levels of coverage. However, as private flooding insurance plans were rare prior to 2014, they are also somewhat untested in their response to a flooding disaster.

While Los Angeles and the surrounding area is not considered a high-risk flood zone, FEMA notes that "more than 20 percent of flood claims come from properties outside high-risk flood zones." Further, repairing flood damaged property is quite expensive. A single inch of water can cause upwards of $10,000 worth of damage.

Fortunately, SERVPRO of North Hollywood is here to help! Our certified restoration specialists respond faster, 24/7, to any size flooding disaster with the training and technology necessary to quickly mitigate a flood damage emergency. We not only dry, clean and deodorize your water damaged property, we also rebuild and restore damaged areas to make a flooding disaster "Like it never even happened." And we also work directly with your insurance company, reducing stressful bottlenecks and bringing you much needed peace of mind.