Friday, May 29, 2009

Flood insurance


Flood insurance denotes the explicit insurance coverage against land loss from flooding. To establish risk factors for specific properties, insurers will often refer to topographical maps that denote lowlands and floodplains that are disposed to flooding.

Flooding is defined by the National Flood Insurance Program as a common and provisional condition of partial or entire inundation of two or more acres of normally dry land area or two or more properties (at least one of which is your property from: Overflow of inland waters, unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from ANY SOURCE, and mudflows.

A flood is an overflow or accumulation of an expanse of water that submerges land, a deluge. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Flooding may result from the volume of water within a body of water, such as a river or lake, which overflows, with the result that some of the water escapes its normal boundaries. While the size of a lake or other body of water will vary with seasonal changes in precipitation and snow melt, it is not a significant flood unless such escapes of water endanger land areas used by man like a village, city or other inhabited area.

This can be brought on by landslides, a hurricane, earthquakes, or other natural disasters that influence flooding, but while a homeowner may, for example, have earthquake coverage, that coverage may not cover floods as a result of earthquakes.

No comments: