Flood insurance - Remember to read the small print

A few years ago, many people do not even really considered flood insurance, but the impact of Hurricane Katrina, and the news coverage that followed, changed. Now it is at the forefront in the minds of many people when it comes to consider as well financially protected them and their family, home and possessions are.

A common misconception is that all the water damage is covered by a policy of full, when this is not the point of view that insurance companies take. With just based on what you think is common sense, you are actually leaving themselves wide open, such as insurance policies do not follow the rules of common sense.

Most flood insurance policies are very specific and technical, with a stipulation in common is that the payout will be made only for damage caused by water from a source that would not normally come into contact with your home. Therefore, it would be covered if a nearby river overflowed and flooded your home, but perhaps not if the flooding was caused only by excessive rainfall.

Take, for example, flooding caused to seepage of water through soil and into your basement. One might suppose that this would surely be covered by a flood insurance policy, and, while it would be some who would not be by others, who can say that it was not unexpected based on their place of residence.

In many cases, in order to be considered floods, water damage must involve at least two acres. Consequently, the damage caused by rainwater from the roof or a broken water pipe at home is more likely to be covered by your home insurance.

Another area where people often get caught is to get flood insurance at the last minute, as news began to break that seriously bad weather is expected. Very often, flood insurance policies have a period of 30 days to wait before becoming active, so those who do this are not really covered at all....