A flood insurance policy can help to keep your home protected through El Niño.
Living in Southern California means getting to enjoy warm weather practically all year. However, in the current El Niño conditions, you may be finding that you are not only pulling out your ‘big’ jacket, but also your rain boots. Along with changing your wardrobe, El Niño should also be changing your insurance portfolio.
Even though your homeowners insurance policy will provide coverage for most damages to your home, it will not provide any protection for damage that is caused by flooding. With heavy rains, comes a high chance of flooding, which means flood insurance is more important right now than ever before.
Flood insurance has a 30-day waiting period before your coverage kicks in, which means the longer you wait to invest in a policy, the longer you will go without coverage. If your policy is still in the waiting period when your house is hit by a flood, you will be left covering all the damages out of your own pocket.
While flood insurance will provide additional coverage for your home that you can’t get with your home insurance policy, there are still some limitations. In the most basic terms, your home insurance will cover falling water and your flood insurance will cover rising water. However, there are some gray areas in flood insurance coverage that could leave you unprotected. Flood insurance will not cover damage done during landslides or other ‘earth movements.’ When you invest in a policy, make sure to take the time to talk with your insurance agent to find out exactly what is and what is not covered.
For help finding the right flood insurance policy to get the coverage you deserve, contact the independent insurance professionals at Hoffman Brown Company in Sherman Oaks. Founded in 1961, Hoffman Brown is run on the founding principle of “do the right thing, every day.”
