Would you buy flood insurance for a home in a low risk area?

[HI Bill]

My dad lost hundreds of thousands when the city said his apartment building wasn't in a flood zone any more, then a few years later a 100 year storm flooded it about 2 felt deep throughout.

+1. As a geologist, I look at flood risk to include 100-year floods, 500-year floods, and 1,000-year floods. Do you feel lucky?

In San Diego, Mission Valley and Fashion Valley will one day suffer a major flood that the USACE's emergency pumps won't be able to handle. My geology professor was predicting this circa 1990, and it hasn't happened yet, but it's only a matter of time!

 

[Gevans17]

No, Lake Woodlands drains pretty good to the south. Trace creek has been a small problem for one neighborhood. But the newer areas of the Woodlands along Kukendahl (sp?) in Harris County have had a couple of homes take water. It seems like the areas on the south side of this area are on the edge of the water, but this only has happened during the Harvey event.

We live on the north side along highway 242 and we are pretty high up.

Has 3 inches post Hurricane Kitrina. Flood insurance claim reimbursement exceeded $90,000

 

[indiajust]

It does not help that flood maps badly mis-represent flood risk. FEMA is worse than TSA for data quality. Biggest risks are from high peaks in flow from faster runoff from paved areas upstream. Less of a climate issue than a drainage and flow issue. Pave everything and downstream peaks order of magnitude higher and faster.

I never bothered with flood insurance, but I was meticulous about where I rented and bought, having flood victims in 4 generations of my family.

Could keep an elevated installed gen set and sump pumps, spend on prevention instead of just insuring and hoping.

 

[cloud9nd]

Mine just went up $93/ yr but for just $25 more.... You can get 20k more coverage.

I'm sure most will take the upgrade ande say it's worth the extra 125 a YR.

I'm not thrilled with this. I'll probably hunt for new options.

 

[SecondAttempt]

The reason we have flood insurance is so that it doesn't matter the cause - we're insured regardless. Rising, falling, hurricane, whatever. It's just a matter of the Flood Insurance and Home Owners figuring out who gets what. I'm in S. Fla, and in a flood zone so it's a no brainer for me.

Yes, smart!

 

[SecondAttempt]

+1. As a geologist, I look at flood risk to include 100-year floods, 500-year floods, and 1,000-year floods. Do you feel lucky?

In San Diego, Mission Valley and Fashion Valley will one day suffer a major flood that the USACE's emergency pumps won't be able to handle. My geology professor was predicting this circa 1990, and it hasn't happened yet, but it's only a matter of time!

I live on the slopes of an active volcano, Mauna Loa. The last eruption was in the 1980s. But insurance companies are clueless in pricing risk for volcanic eruption. I am insured if my house burns down even if it is because lava takes it over. (Although it has to start on fire before the lava hits it but the insurance company has the burden of contraproof and physics is my friend!

Geologists are scientists and I trust their predictions. Insurance companies rarely understand these predictions and base their rates on history not science.

 

[phil1ben]

We have a second home at the NJ shore 1 block from the ocean. No mortgage but I carry flood insurance. We previously had two types of coverage: first through the government program up to $250,000 and then excess flood to cover a loss above that amount.

Now we have a single policy through a highly rated private carrier that covers about 50% of the cost of construction to replace the home. Remember the value of the land should be excluded from your decision to determine coverage. We have made the decision to cover 50% of the cost of the improvement because we believe it is unlikely that we will suffer a total loss. We already lived through the eye of Hurricane Sandy in 2013 and suffered only minor damage. The amount of coverage must be balanced with the cost of the insurance. Like minds can differ.

 

[INTJ10]

We cancelled our flood insurance as soon as we paid off the mortgage. We live in a stilt house and it would only pay out if the water reached our living area. I suggest you do a thorough investigation of the policy and what is actually covered.