Flood Insurance

Flood damage can be severe, causing up to $25,000 in damage. Homeowners should consider flood insurance to protect their financial assets. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) offers coverage to property owners, renters, and businesses, promoting faster recovery and community floodplain management. Flood insurance is a separate policy that can cover buildings, the contents in a building, or both, so it is important to protect your most important financial assets — your home, your business, your possessions.

Vehicle Protection

Auto insurance covers your vehicle against a range of risks, including accidents, collisions, and theft. It ensures that your investment is safeguarded from unexpected events.

Liability Coverage

Accidents can happen, and if you're at fault, liability coverage provides financial protection against injuries or property damage sustained by others in the event of an accident.

Medical Expenses

Auto insurance includes coverage for medical expenses if you or your passengers are injured in an accident, regardless of fault. It offers peace of mind knowing that you're financially supported during challenging times.

OVERVIEW

SCOPE of COVERAGE

In the life of a 30-year mortgage, there is a 26% chance of flooding. Regardless of your location to flood zones, everyone in West University Place is encouraged to purchase flood insurance. Basic homeowner’s insurance policies do not cover damage from floods. The City participates in the National Flood Insurance Program, which means that federally subsidized flood insurance is available to everyone in the city. Remember there is a 30-day waiting period before the policy becomes effective. Some people purchased flood insurance because it was required by the bank or loan company when they obtained a mortgage or home improvement loan. Usually these policies just cover the building’s structure and not the contents; however, policies are also available to cover contents. Remember that a flood insurance policy must be renewed every year. Visit Floodsmart: The Official Site of the National Flood Insurance Program for more details on flood insurance including types of policies, coverage options, and other useful information.

Flood insurance is the best way to stay protected against flooding damage, but there are alternatives - financial assistance options (PDF).

The following FEMA resources may also provide more information:

‍

Risk Rating 2.0

For the past 50 years, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has used the same flood risk methodology for calculating insurance premiums.  Introduced as part of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968, the previous methodology calculated homeowner’s risk by analyzing what flood zone their home is in using FEMA’s Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM).

FEMA is updating the Risk Rating system by implementing a new pricing methodology called Risk Rating 2.0. This new system will no longer utilize flood zones to determine a home’s flood risk. This change will allow FEMA to provide rates that better reflect a property’s flood risk.

According to FEMA, the benefits of Risk Rating 2.0 are:

  • More accurate picture of risk at the individual property level
  • Rates that are easier for policyholders and insurance agents to understand
  • Reflection of more types of flood risk than is currently shown
  • Use of up to date actuarial practices to set rates

This change will be implemented in two phases.

Phase 1:

  • New policies that begin on or after October 1, 2021 will be subject to the new rating methodology.
  • Existing policy holders eligible for renewal may choose to take advantage of the new rating methodology.

Phase 2:

  • Policies renewing on or after April 1, 2022 will be subject to the new rating methodology.

FEMA will continue to use FIRM for Mandatory Purchase and Floodplain Management. FEMA will comply with existing statutory caps on premium increases, meaning homes won’t experience a year-over-year price hike more than 18%.  If policy holders see a significant rate increase from changes from Risk Rating 2.0, FEMA has programs in place to offer discounted rates.

FEMA will still offer the following discount features:

  • Discounts for Pre-FIRM subsidized and newly mapped properties
  • Transferring of discounts to a new owner when assigning a flood insurance policy to a new owner when the property changes ownership.
  • Discounts to policy holders that live in a community that participates in the Community Rating System. Since the new Risk Rating 2.0 does not use flood zones to determine flood risk the discount will be uniformly applied to all policies in the participating community.

For more information regarding the new Risk Rating 2.0 system please visit, www.fema.gov/flood-insurance/risk-rating

‍

Go to Top

DISCLAIMER: The information contained on this Website is provided without warranty, guarantee, or representation of any kind. The Website presents curated researched opinions, facts, and insformation solely for general informational purposes. Information from the Website should not be referenced in any way to imply such endorsement or approval of information sources. Unless otherwise stated, we do not endorse, approve, recommend, or certify any information, product, process,service, or organization presented or mentioned on the Website. Furthermore, We disclaim all warranties on the absence of viruses, worms, or other componentsor codes with contaminating or harmful qualities from the Website or the serverthat hosts it.
WE EXPLICITLY DISCLAIM ALL LIABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES—DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, OR OTHERWISE—THAT MAY RESULT FROM SOMEONE USING, REFERENCING, RELYING UPON, OR NOT BEING ABLE TO USE THE WEBSITE OR THE CONTENT ON IT.