Now Californians find out they don't have flood insurance!

[thewayne]

*sigh*

47% of Americans surveyed think that flood protection comes with homeowner's insurance. It does not. It is an add-on policy. It not only protects you against things like the massive California floods, but also if your water heater bursts and damages the floor and carpets, or pipes in the ceiling leak and you have problems up there.

It's not a bad idea.

Californians? Apparently only 1.3% of them have flood insurance.

Oh my, do they have a wake-up call coming! And with Republicans in charge of the House - which allocates the nation's finances - and their broad hatred of things California, I would expect any sort of major financial relief to be quite stingy.

https://gizmodo.com/california-is-in-for-a-flood-insurance-wake-up-call-1850001122

Comments

[mtbc]

I wonder how many think they have earthquake insurance also.

[dewline]

Oh...HELL.

[kathmandu]

I had not realized 'flood' as in rising waters and 'flood' as in broken plumbing were covered by the same clause. That explains why the mortgaging bank wanted flood insurance on my mother's house even though it was located on the top of a hill. We used to joke that if that house were ever flooded by the river rising from below, we'd need a new Ark.

[disneydream06]

And yet the Deep South, aka hurricane alley, aka Bright Red States, have their hands out every year for government handouts.
They never think about it when they are the weather victims. :o
Hugs, Jon

[kaishin108]

I was just thinking that the other day! How the heck are all those repairs going to get paid for.
We never had flood insurance in Calif. and I am pretty relieved we moved!

[devilc]

I don't have flood insurance, because in my part of the Vegas valley, it would be a 10K year event for me to flood, given the massive and deep culvert* about 5 football fields from my house, and also all the houses on my street are built above street level, for drainage purposes.

That said? In different parts of my valley, it really is a necessity, even as much as the valley has done for flood control. And given where I'm seriously considering retiring, I'll totally be getting it.

Back to California, as these sorts of storms become more common with climate change? Yes, everybody who's not east of the High Sierra needs to consider it.

*Said culvert is as wide as a 2 lane street and deep enough to put a 2 story house in. There's also a 30 foot (9M) elevation gain between my house and the top of the culvert, so yes, if flooded hard enough to overtop that? Holy. Shitballs.

Also, I will say that my greater metro area makes national or international news about every 5 to 10 years for flooding. The floods happen in areas where the flood control hasn't been completed, or on the Vegas Strip, which, some 60 years ago was built over the top of the wash that funnels water through that part of the valley -- at the place where it formed a sort of internal delta, so it was deceptive just how much water came through when it poured rain. The first 2 floors of the LINQ parking garage are considered a part of the flood control district, and every local knows that when it rains, you don't go there.

The flood control district would dearly love to demolish that parking garage and install the drainage that is needed, but the property owners don't want to sell, eminent domain would be astounding, and attempts to partner the cost of a demo and rebuild have never succeeded. ~sigh~

[acelightning73]

After Superstorm Sandy, many people in the NY metropolitan area found out why they should have had flood insurance. I think if you have renters insurance that includes your landlord's flood insurance. We had to buy more insurance to qualify for a loan to rebuild and re-furnish the house. (The landlord's insurance paid for the kitchen appliances.)

[silveradept]

I knew that flood insurance was an additional rider, but I hadn't realized that it was non-specific to weather events but instead to cover any and all water damage. That makes it a more interesting choice to talk about with an agent since I live in a place that gets a lot of rain, and sometimes very heavy rain.