Flood insurance is a tricky subject because most people do not have to secure flood insurance when they purchase a home. Whether or not you must buy flood insurance and how much you need to carry is determined by whether of not your home sits on a flood plain and how much risk you home is assessed to have in case of a storm surge or rise in the level of the waters near you home.
If you home is not in a flood zone, in many cases your mortgage company will only require you to buy a standard homeowners insurance policy. Standard homeowner’s policies specifically do not cover flood damage though. So, despite paying into an insurance policy and carefully protecting your home from burglary, fire and other problems, when a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina hits, you are left without flood insurance compensation to cover the damage.
If you have purchased flood insurance, you need to make sure you have all of your policy information handy in the event of a major disaster. You also need to take photos and provide proof and file your claim as soon as possible so that you can get the compensation you deserve. In many cases, it is valuable to secure the help of an attorney in filing and closing out flood insurance claims so that your insurance company will make sure your process is as smooth and simple as possible. Also, in some cases even a flood insurance company will deny a claim, saying that the damage occurred as a result of some other storm aspect and pointing you in the direction of your homeowner’s insurance to get help.
Recently, some people have filed lawsuits against their homeowner’s insurance companies for doing just that. In one case a couple’s home in inland Mississippi home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. They called their homeowner’s insurance company and an engineering firm was sent out to identify the cause of the damage – which was initially identified as wind damage and wind driven rain. Their homeowner’s policy explicitly covered this kind of wind damage which is why they were confused and angry when their claim was denied. The insurance company had asked the engineering company to consider other potential causes from the storm as being culpable in the destruction of the home and in a second report the engineers identified that flood damage had been the main factor in the destruction and therefore their claim was denied.
Had the couple had flood insurance, the same thing might have happened to them from that direction. Either way, this couple found a qualified attorney who is now helping them to sue the insurance company who they feel has acted in bad faith. In fact, their case may become a part of a larger investigation currently being carried out by the Mississippi Attorney General, Jim Hood, and his ongoing insurance fraud investigation.
Although many insurance companies act in an above-board and ethical manner, sometimes the help of a qualified attorney can really help you secure more funding, more efficiently for flood damage insurance claims.