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

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Car-Guy So I guess Lake Woodlands or the West Fork of the San Jac river has never been a problem for you guys?

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.

[Car-Guy]

^^^^^
Well you have enough history of the specific area it sounds like you are "probably" okay... At least as long as the Lake Conroe Dam doesn't break.

[Zathras]

The water cycle is getting turbo-charged.
If I were in a flood zone, I would be paying for flood insurance.

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Car-Guy ^^^^^ Well you have enough history of the specific area it sounds like you are "probably" okay... At least as long as the Lake Conroe Dam doesn't break.

The Lake Conroe dam is a long way from here. Plus, the San Jacinto River is between us and the dam.

[rk911]

when we bought our current home in 1988 we considered it even though we are in a low risk area and our lender did not require it. but after talking to our insurance agent and learning how the pgm works we decided against it.

[Callitaday2022]

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.

[Buckeye]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Badger My flood insurance went up this year by $200 from last year. Now it is $689. Since I am a little over 100yds from the ocean I think I will keep it and be glad I have it. My Wind insurance just went under but was higher too. Way more than flood ins. I don't think I will buy it anymore and hope there are minimal strength hurricanes. My house is concrete block with a standing seam metal roof and hurricane panels for the windows so I should be able to get by without wind insurance. Cheers!

Are you allowed to purchase fire protection with purchasing wind protection? If not, you might want to get monitored smoke alarms. I consider this the most valuable part of my Ring monitoring.

[SecondAttempt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark1 I think you need to look at the topography around your house to determine if flood insurance is a good deal for you. In many instances, the risk if very localized.

This! If you are on the top of a local hill maybe skip, bottom of a local depression, $625 a year is probably worth it. FEMA judges risk over large areas. You really need to assess your personal risk. This is not just assessing where there could be a flood which you might not be able to do, but also what would you lose if there were a flood. If you might have 2 inches of water in your house, what might that cost vs 10 feet?

I am weighing a similar issue with earthquake insurance in Hawaii. I got a quote and it is about the same as your $625 for a $1 million property. But the risk is also pretty low so I am on the fence.

I lived for many years in a "sheet flood" area where FEMA predicted there was a remote chance of about a 4-6 inch flood in the next 100 years or whatever. I was required to have flood insurance for the mortgage. When we paid off th emotgage we kept flood but mostly because USG had funded the building of a series of flood control basins in golf courses above us. Once those were complete we dropped it.

[old medic]

When asked about flood insurance when 1st bought our place, said it would be a waste of money... If we get flooded here.... would need to find Noah to collect anything...

[FLSUnFIRE]

At my old house 9' above baseline, I carried it but considered self-insuring given the value of the land and premium relative to the replacement cost of the structure. Currently, out of flood zone and 70' above Tampa Bay with a line-of-sight slope to the water. I should be safe for my lifetime from tidal or freshwater flooding. I hated paying flood insurance and avoided any house that would require it since then.

[RetMD21]

I looked at some online topographic maps. We're at least 50 feet above the river and 1/2 mile away. I think the risk is very low. I guess due to the nature of claims raising the deductible for flood insurance has much less of an effect than for homeowner's. I think I'll pass for now.

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Car-Guy ^^^^^ Just curious, do you now or have you ever lived in the greater Houston area for more than 10 years? In the 50 + years I lived there I think I've seen just about every area of town have flooding problems at one time or another... Sometimes one side of town is a disaster area and the other side has had minimal rain or at least no flooding of any kind. I will admit that the south and east sides seem to get hit more often but I've seen every area from Sugerland to Katy to Cypress to Spring to Kingwood to Channelview, to Clear Lake to Friendwoods, to Pearland, etc, and all points in-between get hit at one time or another. Of course places like the Heights area (Center Ciry) has been hit hard a lot.

Well, about to turn 65 and have lived here since I was 1... except for some time spent on the company's dime... but still had my house here..




Where i grew up it flooded off and on... but only once did the water get to the front door...


Do not get me wrong, I have lived where you would consider where it flooded, but it never came close to my house.. and my street was not flooded... there are always low and high spots, just have to look for them.


I live in the Klein area... and neighborhoods all around had some flooding... some of it bad and on TV... but I was high and dry...

[m3bs]

I had $15K in foundation damage from water flow under my house. Homeowners insurance didn’t cover because water that was already on the ground was considered “flood”. I looked into flood insurance, and it would only cover if 1 square mile was flooded. Not likely considering I live on a pretty good slope.

[Buckeye]

Quote:

Originally Posted by m3bs I had $15K in foundation damage from water flow under my house. Homeowners insurance didn’t cover because water that was already on the ground was considered “flood”. I looked into flood insurance, and it would only cover if 1 square mile was flooded. Not likely considering I live on a pretty good slope.

This is the catch that I had forgotten. This is why I decided against buying given I was in a low risk area. The event couldn't just happen to me, it needed to happen to many for me to be able to recover.

[ncbill]

BIL & SIL live just a few blocks off the sound down at the shore.

Nobody buys flood insurance though...sandy soil (i.e. sand) drains well enough.

[folivier]

We've always lived in south Louisiana where it is flat so no runoff and channeling to worry about. All of our houses have been in the highest point of the areas even though that may be only 1 or 2 feet above other areas. Now we're at 25' above sea level but 1 mile from the Mississippi River which in spring floods will be very close to the top of the levees. We've always bought flood insurance and thankfully have never had to use it.
We've seen extreme rain events from hurricanes, etc. which can easily flood our area.
One thought is (I think) flood insurance will cover damage from erosion caused by rainfall or flooding. So if you're on a hill and heavy rains damage your foundation then flood insurance may cover that.

[m3bs]

It might vary by location, but here in South Carolina localized rainwater runoff damage would not be covered by flood insurance. Has to cover a square mile to qualify.

[SecondAttempt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by m3bs It might vary by location, but here in South Carolina localized rainwater runoff damage would not be covered by flood insurance. Has to cover a square mile to qualify.

I think the term is that flood insurance covers rising water not falling water while homeowner's insurance covers falling water but not rising. But this is challenging because homeowner's insurance usually covers "wind-driven rain" and technically storm surge during a hurricane is produced by high winds leading to lower air pressure and hence the sea surface rising so technically it is wind-driven. I am pretty sure it has been litigated so that storm surge is considered "rising water" but the techicallities are complicated. Unfortunately not all judges understand basic physics.

[Aerides]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SecondAttempt I think the term is that flood insurance covers rising water not falling water while homeowner's insurance covers falling water but not rising.

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.

[Rustic23]

When we lived in Houston, we were outside of the flood zone. We had insurance. It did not flood insuring Harvey. However, I would like still have it. Houston is flat! A very slow moving storm can flood almost any neighborhood. We now live on a lake. We live on a hill some 20 feet above dam level. For the house to flood it won’t have to top the dam. So no flood insurance.