Flood Inusrance...

So I spent all day yesterday working on my flood insurance classes. I learned several things about flood insurance that I never knew before. The more important ones that are relevant to others are, in no particular order:

1. Flood insurance is cheaper than a disaster relief fund.

Most disaster relief funds are actually loans. You eventually will have to pay it back with interest. Plus, in order for you to even get those funds there is a far more amount of red-tape then with a basic flood policy. On top of that, those funds are not even available unless the president declares it an emergency. When I heard that, I could not help but think of FEMA. They really could not act until the beaurocratic red-tape had been cleared. Yet, the media massacured them.

2. How much damage even 2 inches of water can cause.

On the NFIP website there is a tool that you can input some numbers and it would give you an approximate amount of damage of a given size of flood. And this does not even take into account other effects such as Mold, Loss of Usage, etc...

3. Even low risk areas have a chance.

Of course the FEMA website was full of stories of places that are out of the way, never would get hit by a flood locations. There are lots of places like this. I know that they tend to show the worst of the worst stories for shock value, but hey, it could happen.

4. What to do in a post-flood environment.

They first thought I had was not to plant a vineyard. Plant rice instead. Seriously though. Photograph everything and you need to air out the house. There was this story about a lady "who did not want to do anything until the adjuster got there." Mold formed in her walls and climbed up to the second floor and infected up there, ruining the some of the second floor. While her stuff on the main floor was covered, the upper floor was not covered because she did not take reasonable steps to prevent damage. So air out the house.

So why did I even bother to make this post? Well, I am not trying to sell you insurance, although I could, I am a gold level flood agent with the NFIP/FEMA people here in California only. It is to tell others that it is important and depending on the construction, age, and location of your house it really is not that expensive. And of course I would not be doing my job, if I did not let you all know about the potential danger of it.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Or check out the NFIP home page, or the FEMA homepage or go to www.smartflood.gov and find out there.


Christopher A. Myers
CA #0G10340