Flood Insurance in Abbeville, Honea Path, and Anderson, SC
If you live in a flood-prone area, your home faces a substantial risk of property damage due to flooding. And while standard home insurance might provide coverage for household water damage resulting from a burst pipe or similar incident, your home insurance won’t cover damage caused by floods. Depending on your home’s location, your need for flood insurance could be significant. Contact our agency today to discuss your flood insurance needs.
What Is Flood Insurance?
Flood insurance can cast a versatile financial safety net across many losses and damages caused by floods. These policies can be acquired through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and may also be available for purchase through private insurance companies. By maintaining this essential coverage, you may be able to access critical financial assistance in response to floods that may have otherwise incurred catastrophic out-of-pocket costs.
What Are My Flood Insurance Options?
The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) underwrites most flood insurance. If your community participates in the NFIP, you may be able to purchase an NFIP plan. Usually, you can buy NFIP plans through a major insurer or the NFIP Direct system.
NFIP plans must comply with federally established standards. There are two types of coverage: structure insurance, which protects your house, and contents coverage, which insures your possessions. There may also be coverage for debris removal costs, loss avoidance and cost of compliance.
You may be able to receive compensation for your losses and reduce your flood recovery costs by filing a claim on your flood insurance plan. Flood insurance doesn’t usually take effect until 30 days after purchase. However, if your lender requires that you have flood insurance to make, increase, extend or renew your loan, then there’s no waiting period.
How Does Flood Insurance Work?
Although the details of your flood insurance may vary, these policies typically consist of the following two components:
- Building coverage—This provides financial protection for the structural elements of your home and property, including foundations, plumbing and electrical systems, attached fixtures (e.g., cabinets and paneling) and detached structures.
- Contents coverage—This part of your flood insurance policy may help pay for losses and damages involving the contents of your home, including electronics, clothing, furniture and portable appliances.
When Is Flood Insurance Required?
Although flood insurance is typically not required by law, you may still be beholden to specific requirements. For example, if you have purchased your home using a mortgage, your lender may require that you maintain certain flood coverage limits throughout your loan. Even if you are not required to do so, purchasing flood insurance is highly advisable, as most home insurance policies exclude flood coverage.
How to Get Flood Insurance
Flood insurance can help financially protect you against the dangers of having your house flooded. Without it, you will need to pay flood-related damages out-of-pocket, which can be expensive. Contact Select Insurance today to learn more about flood insurance.