Callitaday2022
Recycles dryer sheets
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.
Would you buy flood insurance for a home in a low risk area?
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SecondAttempt
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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.
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.
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
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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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...
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
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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.
Nobody buys flood insurance though...sandy soil (i.e. sand) drains well enough.
folivier
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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.
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.
SecondAttempt
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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.
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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
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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.
A true survey of your property, relative to anticipated water levels may be a good investment. Flood zone maps are pretty decent, but are not produced to look closely at each individual home, but more the entire area. I dont think an elevation survey would cost much, possibly a couple of thousand dollars with all the exhibits that would be needed, maybe much less, even under $1000. Depends on the lot and the conditions.
How long have you lived there. Do you know the 100 year and 500 year flood heights? 15 feet is actually not very much. We lived in a house that required flood insurance and now we live on high ground.
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Flood insurance
When I bought my home, I did buy flood insurance for the first year. Even after severe weather, the French drains I had installed took care of any run off that could have resulted in flooding. Since I live in a low risk area with no rivets or streams, I dropped the flood insurance.
When I bought my home, I did buy flood insurance for the first year. Even after severe weather, the French drains I had installed took care of any run off that could have resulted in flooding. Since I live in a low risk area with no rivets or streams, I dropped the flood insurance.
NXR7
Recycles dryer sheets
We're in an X but the house two doors away (about 150' away) and the rest of the street going that direction are in A. They have a very large open storm drainage ditch behind their homes, like 15' deep and 30' wide at the top. It drains at the far end of the street.
We have a 7' diameter underground storm sewer pipe off the backyard that dumps into that ditch. During and after a heavy rain that 7' pipe is filled to within 6" of the top as it pours into that ditch.
The City did a really poor job with respect to approving new subdivisions and that massive amount of water comes from another subdivision about 1/2 mile away.
Here's the rub. The last house on our street is in an A. The next house to the west is about 200' away across the cross street but is not in a flood plain even though that storm ditch drains in their direction. Why? Because they're in a township and we're in a city. The EPA did not evaluate townships when they created the flood maps, even though water runs downhill.
Our home was initially put in an A, literally 20 years after we bought it. As we appealed it, we learned that the EPA flew over the area in a plane and essentially said "Yup, looks like it'll flood."
After we appealed with an engineering study, the EPA accepted that our home and others were not in a flood plain due to that underground pipe.
Can we still flood? Sure, but we are not required to have flood insurance by the mortgage lender. That was $1,500 a year back in 2010. When we sell it's to our advantage to not be in a flood plain.
The closest large body of water is Lake Erie about 30 miles away. We're 500' higher than Lake Erie.
As my dad so wisely told me "Always buy a house on a hill."
No, we do not carry flood insurance. Flood insurance does not cover anything in a basement. That's our biggest risk due to topology but even then it's small because it's downhill from here.
We have a 7' diameter underground storm sewer pipe off the backyard that dumps into that ditch. During and after a heavy rain that 7' pipe is filled to within 6" of the top as it pours into that ditch.
The City did a really poor job with respect to approving new subdivisions and that massive amount of water comes from another subdivision about 1/2 mile away.
Here's the rub. The last house on our street is in an A. The next house to the west is about 200' away across the cross street but is not in a flood plain even though that storm ditch drains in their direction. Why? Because they're in a township and we're in a city. The EPA did not evaluate townships when they created the flood maps, even though water runs downhill.
Our home was initially put in an A, literally 20 years after we bought it. As we appealed it, we learned that the EPA flew over the area in a plane and essentially said "Yup, looks like it'll flood."
After we appealed with an engineering study, the EPA accepted that our home and others were not in a flood plain due to that underground pipe.
Can we still flood? Sure, but we are not required to have flood insurance by the mortgage lender. That was $1,500 a year back in 2010. When we sell it's to our advantage to not be in a flood plain.
The closest large body of water is Lake Erie about 30 miles away. We're 500' higher than Lake Erie.
As my dad so wisely told me "Always buy a house on a hill."
No, we do not carry flood insurance. Flood insurance does not cover anything in a basement. That's our biggest risk due to topology but even then it's small because it's downhill from here.
MC Rider
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We are nowhere near a FEMA flood zone, other than tributaries of the LA River, and those are mostly paved in concrete. Drainage is no problem.
We do carry earthquake insurance for around $600/year. We remember January 17, 1994 @ 4:31AM too well.
We do carry earthquake insurance for around $600/year. We remember January 17, 1994 @ 4:31AM too well.
Without knowing any of the specifics of where your home is located I would make the following observation: the simple fact that you looked into flood insurance suggests it is not out of the realm of possibility to your mind.
That suggests you should purchase Flood Insurance.
Stormy Kromer
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If you don't and a flood happens. Don't sue your agent.
Not until I get my asteroid insurance
Retired Expat
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You need to look at the area topography and particularly down stream. We are+/- 15’ above the river but the entire town downstream is 5’. Water would have to really inundate a huge area before it could reach our house. In a 100 years there is no record of it. Sure I might not be able to reach my home in a flooding situation but it will stay dry. So while the zone has a flooding risk our property really doesn’t
