Georgia Flood Insurance

Are you filing a claim for a flood loss? FEMA requires that the homeowner policy reject coverage PRIOR TO the flood policy providing coverage…

What does that mean?  It means that even though the homeowner policy provides no coverage, the homeowner is still required to process a homeowner policy claim and be denied coverage.  After the homeowner policy denies coverage, THEN the flood policy will pay.

Good news: The Georgia Insurance Commissioner directive mandates that insurance companies do not position this type of claim to adversely affect the homeowner policy.   Many times, an insurance company will provide “claim free” discounts.  Making a homeowner claim for FEMA requirements KNOWING there is no coverage on the homeowner policy is not to have a negative impact to the homeowner policy.

Flood insurance is added security for the Flood related claim.  Make sure you understand what flood insurance coverage.  The term FLOOD is defined differently among the logic and the government view.

October 1 will bring a number of changes to the NFIP.  Some will affect premiums for policyholders in all risk areas. It is important to understand these changes as many of your customers will soon receive their 60-day renewal notices and may see a change in their premiums and policy terms including deductibles.

One Year Ago
This year’s peak hurricane season marks the anniversary of several major tropical storms and hurricanes that have hit numerous states in years past – just last year Tropical Storm Fay began one of the worst storm seasons in U.S. history. Fay hit South Florida on August 18 and became the first storm in recorded history to make landfall in Florida four times, causing more than $560 million in damage. Hurricane Gustav quickly followed, hitting Louisiana on August 31 and causing more than $6.6 billion in damage. Hurricane Ike came shortly after Gustav on September 13, bringing extensive flooding and wind damage throughout the Midwest and as far north as Pennsylvania. Damage from Ike is estimated at $24 billion.

Five Years Ago
The 2004 hurricane season is one Floridians won’t soon forget. The season got a late start with the first storm forming on August 1. Things progressed quickly from there with the development of Tropical Storm Bonnie and Hurricane Charley, both making landfall in Florida within 24 hours of each other. The season brought an additional three storms, Hurricanes Francis, Ivan and Jeanne, to the Sunshine State causing more than $42 billion in total damages.

Ten and Twenty Years Ago
Last year’s hurricanes aren’t the only storms that are still fresh in most people’s minds. Some property owners still remember other devastating hurricanes that struck long ago and resulted in years of costly clean-up and rebuilding. This September marks the ten-year anniversary of Hurricane Floyd, which made landfall in North Carolina on September 16, 1999. The storm traveled up the East Coast as a tropical storm and passed over Long Island and into New England, causing record rainfall and flooding across the east coast, with Wilmington, NC and Philadelphia, PA setting 24-hour rainfall records of 15.06 in. and 6.63 in. respectively. Floyd was one of the costliest hurricanes on record, with an estimated $4.5 billion in damage.

Hurricane Hugo marks its twentieth anniversary this year, as it made landfall and caused extensive damage to Charleston, SC on September 21, 1989. By the time it moved up the coastline and reached inland to Charlotte, NC, Hugo was still a Category 3 hurricane and ultimately caused 29 counties in North Carolina to be declared federal disaster areas.Hugo’s storm surge was the highest ever recorded on the East Coast and its 150 mile wide swath resulted in major damage hundreds of miles inland – it caused $7 billion in damage and remains the sixth costliest hurricane in U.S. history.

INFO FROM: info@floodsmart.com

Peak hurricane season is here —  is your community protected  with flood insurance?

Atlantic peak hurricane season has arrived, and residents and business owners should not assume that a calm June and July mean a major hurricane is not on its way. There is often a “calm before the storm” during early summer months – minimal storm activity followed by massive tropical storms and/or hurricanes occurring mid-August through October. Over the last 158 years, nearly 80 percent of all tropical storms and hurricanes develop during this time. This August three named storms formed in just 33 hours. These late summer storms can cause massive flooding that devastate communities and destroy homes.

Past seasons have shown that peak hurricane season can bring severe weather to the Gulf and Southern coasts, the Eastern Seaboard, as well as far inland. While storm surge caused by hurricanes and tropical storms can wreak havoc on coastal areas, hurricanes and tropical storms moving inland can bring torrential rains and high winds that intensify the risk of flooding for residents living hundreds of miles from the coast.

Remind home and business owners in your community that the only protection against costly flood damage is flood insurance. Unprotected property owners should seriously consider purchasing a flood insurance policy now – especially because there is typically a 30-day waiting period before it becomes effective and most standard homeowners insurance policies do NOT cover flood damage.

Attention Agents: Protect Your Customers!
If you’re an insurance agent you already know that without flood insurance, property owners may have to absorb the financial losses caused from flooding on their own, potentially wiping out their savings. Let your customers know that flood insurance is more affordable than they may think. The average flood insurance policy is around $540 a year, but for homes in moderate-to-low risk areas, Preferred Risk Policies start as low as $119 a year.

Encourage your customers to visit FloodSmart.gov/hurricane to learn more about the risk of flooding during hurricane season and how they can protect their homes and its contents with flood insurance. Agents.FloodSmart.gov has tools and resources that will help you reach out to your customers to warn them about hurricane season, including hurricane-themed direct mail templates (sent directly from your desktop!) and hurricane season ads available in the NFIP Agent Co-Op Advertising Program. And while you’re there, sign up for the Agent Referral Program and receive free leads.

Flood insurance is available for the business.  Coverage for the risk of flood damage is available for business personal property, business real property.

The application process is consistent to the underwriting issues of a personal line policy.  Grade of the structure, flood zone, location of property and systems, and more.  The Elevation Certificate continues to be a need to document each structure’s propensity to flood.

Need Flood coverage for your business?  Contact our agency for a solution that positions you to survive when water damages your business’ property.

Binding Flood coverage for the same day as the “need” is possible.  To be successfull, the following checklist has to be ready and in our possession early.  The possession of a Elevation Certificate is KEY to the success of binding today.

The only other requirement to bind Flood Insurance today is the impending sale/closing of the home.  Coverage can be provided at the time of closing.  If there is no pending purchase, flood insurance has a waiting period of 30 days to go in effect.

Planning, preparedness are terms we often think about when planning for hurricanes and other flood causes.  The reality is it takes planning and preparedness to obtain a flood policy too.

Are you ready to start the process?  We are ready to help… Our Flood Insurance specialist is ready for your call or online submittal.   We look forward to hearing from you.

http://www.GAFloodInsurance.com

Georgia Flood Insurance provided by a Georgia Flood Insurance Agent.

Quick Flood Insurance coverage for Georgia Property owners.

The process today requires much more preliminary work.

See the page that discussed the “Checklist” of how to get a Quote and Price for Flood Insurance.