Find Flower Shops

Spring's finally here. The birds are starting to think about setting up shop in the local shrubbery, the temperatures are reaching positive numbers, and there's a light at the end of the very snow covered tunnel you've been sitting in all winter long. But-what's going to happen to all the snow?

April showers bring May flowers, but no one ever bothers to tell you what January snow is going to bring! All that snow has to go somewhere, however, and the gentle slopes and plains that dominate many inland highly populated areas provide poor drainage. That means that unfortunately, that somewhere often just happens to be your basement! That's why it's so important that even inland homeowners to have flood insurance.

BUYING FLOOD INSURANCE It's going to be up to your homeowners insurance provider to determine whether you'll be able to purchase flood insurance through a private insurer. If the rains came down and we had another great flood that wiped the earth clean you can almost guarantee it wouldn't be covered! Winter flooding, and whether or not that flooding falls under the heading of water damage, is a grey area with most insurers and is one that you are going to need to discuss in depth with your own insurance agent.

If your insurance company won't issue you flood insurance, and you're having trouble finding someone in the private sector willing to sell it to you(they get twitchy at the thought of actually paying out a claim sometimes) your best bet is going to be to contact the National Flood Insurance Program. Operated through FEMA, the National Flood Insurance Program covers most of the continental United States and is intended to provide flood coverage to areas perceived to be "high risk", therefore encouraging developers to continue to build there even though the property is almost guaranteed to be filled with water at some point or another. Insurance purchased through the NFIP is slightly more expensive that that bought from a private provider, but it costs far less than being caught without flood protection when the water comes sweeping through your living room.

MINIMIZING THE DAMAGES

Just because you have flood insurance doesn't mean you should leave the doors wide open to flood damage. In fact, you'll find that the more steps you take to protect your home from damage by flooding, the more money you'll be able to save on your flood insurance premiums! Minimizing the damages your house and your property suffer when it floods will go a long way toward minimizing the amount of money your insurance provider has to pay out if the worst should happen, and they're likely to reward that prudence with noticeable savings on your insurance premiums.

Clifford F. Berman is CEO of QuoteScout. For more information on , visit them on the web at