Home Insurance

Are you prepared for a flood?

Child standing in large puddle with green boots and rainbow umbrella

The cause of flooding varies – heavy rainfall, snow melt, dam failure and more – but the effect can be devastating. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), an inch of flood water can cause over $26,807 in damage to a single story, 2,500 square-foot home.2

That’s a lot of money to pay out of pocket, so how can you lessen the burden?

  1. Purchase flood insurance. Standard home insurance policies typically do not include flood protection. However, you can obtain flood insurance through the federal government’s National Flood Insurance Program to cover flood loss, such as structural damage, flooring replacement, flood debris cleanup and replacement of your personal possessions. If you live in a particularly hazardous flood zone, your mortgage lender may have already required you to purchase flood insurance.
  2. Know the risk of flooding in your area. Weather, construction and erosion can all play a part in helping you understand your flood risk. To see the risk of flooding in your area, you can check out FEMA’s flood map.
  3. Take inventory of your home and safeguard important documents. No matter if you live in a high or low risk flooding area, you should still inventory your home’s valuables. Take pictures or videos of your items. Be sure to capture serial numbers, model numbers, receipts or appraisal figures. These will help if you ever have to file an insurance claim. Be sure to back up your pictures or videos to the Cloud or other storage devices and keep your original documents in a waterproof or water-resistant safe or box.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can secure flood insurance, your Horace Mann agent can help.

Horace Mann Insurance Company and its affiliates underwrite Horace Mann home insurance. Flood insurance is underwritten by Wright Flood and is issued pursuant to the federal flood insurance program. 1. Ready.gov. (2021, December 9). Floods. Floods. Retrieved January 12, 2022, from https://www.ready.gov/floods. 2. FEMA. (n.d.). The cost of flooding. Retrieved January 12, 2022, from https://www.floodsmart.gov/cost-flooding.